Rumours
by rock-the-casbah18
Summary: AU. There's more to Hogwarts than Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. There's fashion, chain-smoking and the occasional illicit affair.
1. Slytherin

**Author's Note: **Well, here it is, the very first chapter of the experimental story that never ends! :p Not quite as much scandal/drama/fashion/sex as I would've liked, but this is kind of an introductory chapter. The next three will be introductory as well, for the other houses, and the characters in them. Anyway, **sick-atheartxx (Railey)**, you're in this one! Hope you don't mind the liberties I took with you. I'd love for you to PM me (or maybe I'll just PM you) so we can discuss what will happen with Railey the next time the Slytherins come around. Gryffindors up next! [PS, I'm in this as well. *blush*]

**Disclaimer: **J.K. Rowling owns most fictional characters and places. Any OCs are of a combined creation, by me and another author.

* * *

"Shit. Fuck. Goddamn it, fuck. Shit."

Kat Dubrovskiy cursed like a sailor as she stood, feet planted firmly on the very top step of the dormitory stairs, arms held taut in front of her as she struggled to keep hold of her Louis Vuitton luggage trunk. One finger less, and the full trunk would go tumbling down the stone steps and everyone in the dorm would know she was there. Which, really, was the last thing she wanted.

She gave a final tug and thought her arms had broken off at the elbow, already feeling a light sheen of sweat soaking through her James Perse grey v-neck. She sighed, pushing her loose chocolate curls over her shoulder. _Great_. She hadn't even met her roommate, and she already looked like absolute crap.

* * *

"Hi."

"Hey."

Railey Mortimer blinked, playing with the frayed hem of her Marc by Marc Jacobs graphic tee shirt. It was almost threadbare, she'd worn it so much; she wrapped a loose string around her pointer finger and tugged until it pulled off. "Hi Theo."

Theodore Nott sighed. His leg bounced a bit impatiently, a nervous habit she'd learned to look for. He sighed again. "Are we going to talk about it?," he asked gruffly, scratching distractedly at the stubble decorating his cheeks.

"Should we?," Railey asked, shrugging. She uncrossed her legs, recrossing them the opposite way, sitting Indian-style in the middle of her bed. Running long fingers through her ginger hair, she matched Theo's sigh with her own. "I don't really see what there is to talk about, Theo. You slept with Kenna. Full stop."

Theo bit the inside of his cheek obviously, staring at the stone floor of Railey's dorm room. "There's more to it than that, and you know it, Rai." Railey snorted with disgust, lip curling in a disheartened sneer.

"No, I don't know it, Theo. I only know what I saw, with my own eyes. And that would be you, and Kenna, fucking around in Astoria Greengrass's bed." Cheeks flushed red, Railey's hands were shaking and it took every last ounce of her strength to not jump up and either strangle Theo or kiss him. She missed him so much, even though it had only been three weeks since the Greengrass sister's end of summer party. Three weeks since she had caught him in bed with another girl. Three weeks since she'd had her heart ripped from her chest and thrown, still beating, to the ground.

* * *

Three beds, rather than two? That was the very first thing Kat noticed when the door marked 114 swung open, revealing her new home for the year. A dorm with three beds? So that meant she had…

Two roommates.

"You must be Katya." With honey blonde hair and painted pink lips, the girl in front of Kat couldn't have been more than five feet tall. She was slender with warm curves and a bright, misleading smile. "I'm Daphne Greengrass. You've probably heard of my father, Nathaniel Greengrass."

Kat gave the girl a blank look, even though she knew full well who Nathaniel Greengrass was. "Just Kat. And nope, can't say I've ever heard the name," she said lightly with a delicate shrug. Daphne pouted before flouncing over to her bed, lying down heavily with a sigh. "That's Pansy." She pointed a finger and manicured nail towards the other girl who sat on the windowsill, cigarette dangling between her pointer and middle fingers. Pansy cut her eyes at Kat boredly, exhaling a steady stream of smoke from her nostrils. Her bottle green eyes narrowed, cat-like, and she yawned, another physical representation of her nonchalance.

"At least she's not poor," Pansy drawled from the sill, giving Kat an appraising once-over. Kat was sure she'd seen Pansy's tall, thin figure somewhere in the pages of Vogue Italia. Maybe the Dolce and Gabbana advert of two seasons ago? Pansy tossed her cigarette out the window and slid from her seat with feline-like grace, gliding over to her own twin bed, sitting on it gracefully, crossing one cigarette-pant encased calf over the other. "So, do you want the rules?"

Kat kept a brave face, though she couldn't deny being intimidated by Pansy. Who wouldn't be? The girl practically reeked of sophistication and summer parties on the Riviera.

"Rule one," Pansy began without waiting for Kat's response. "Stay away from Draco Malfoy or I'll personally rip your eyes out. And I really hate getting my hands dirty. I paid £30 for this manicure, and I don't know when I'll be getting one next." Kat's eyebrows rose slightly and she reminded herself to breathe normally. No fear, right?

"Rule two: Don't talk to Harry Potter, Hermione Granger or Ronald Weasley. Really, I'm doing you the hugest favour by telling you this. They're all… well, just don't talk to them and you'll be much better off around here." Kat scowled slightly. Now this girl was dictating who she could talk to?

Pansy leaned back on her hands, seemingly not finished. "And lastly, we have rule three. Do not, under any circumstances, trust anyone here. We'll all throw you under the bus the soonest chance we get."

Kat gulped.

* * *

Draco Malfoy buried his head under his pillow, groaning loudly enough for Blaise Zabini to look up from his book.

"I can't do this, Blaise," Draco whined, his voice muffled by the obstructing cushion. "Four hours of football practice, and then seeing Pansy? Here, there's a gun in my beside drawer, if you'll just take it out and shoot me…"

"I saw Pansy and Daph's new roommate," Blaise said distractedly as he turned the page of his worn, dog-eared copy of _Macbeth_.

"Yeah?" Draco came out from under the pillow, his cheeks flushed pale red from the lack of air. His platinum hair stuck up in odd directions, and his grey eyes had widened in anticipation. Blaise said nothing in return, absentmindedly scratching his chest through his white tee shirt.

"Well?," Draco said impatiently and Blaise looked up at him with a dark, raised eyebrow.

"You're with Pansy, Draco. Need I remind you once again?" Draco rolled his eyes as he hopped out of bed, going over to the set of drawers he'd hastily shoved clothes into while unpacking a week ago. He dug through, looking for a clean shirt among the crumpled and balled masses.

"A man can look, can't he?," Draco murmured distractedly, sidetracked by his search. Blaise only chuckled in response. "Besides, I'd bet money that you checked her out, while visiting Daphne. Your _girlfriend_." Blaise shrugged.

"So what if I did?," he breathed through a yawn. "She was alright."

"Alright, meaning…?"

"She was no Pansy, or anything like that, but she wasn't bad-looking, by any means. Taller than Daph, with bigger tits. Brown hair, brown eyes. Kind of plain-looking. Pretty though, kind of… classic looks." Draco snorted at Blaise's obviously well-thought-over description.

"And you were worried about me straying. Sounds as if you had plenty of time to look," Draco drawled teasingly, looking over his shoulder to smirk at his best friend. Blaise tossed his book in the direction of Draco's head, clipping him in the air.

"Ow, fucker!," Draco yelped girlishly, grabbing at the wounded ear. "What if you'd taken off my fucking ear, you wanker?" Blaise laughed openly, throwing his head back.

"Then you'd be a one-eared freak, Pansy would leave you, and she and I could run off into the sunset together. Shagging wildly, and frequently."

* * *

"I saw Theo standing in our doorway, so I didn't come in," Flora Carrow said excitedly, sitting down next to Railey, their elbows bumping at the close proximity.

"Yeah…," Railey said slowly, not bothering to look at the nosy Carrow sister she was rooming with this year. She'd given up a while ago on trying to keep her and Theo's falling out a secret, but she didn't know people would be bringing it up so soon. She'd only just arrived back at school the day before.

"So, are you two back together? I wouldn't take him back if I were you, but that's my own opinion. I mean, he's super good-looking and he's set to inherit his mother's fortune, but that's not reason enough for me. I can't believe he had sex with Kenna. Honestly, if some boy tried to pull that on me…"

Railey subtly slid her hands over her ears, wanting nothing more than to block out Flora's high-pitched drone. She didn't want to be reminded of Theo. She didn't want to think about Theo. She almost wished she'd never met him at all.

"And to think, Kenna laughed about it to Hestia later," Flora said disapprovingly, shaking her head. "What a complete and utter bitch. I don't think I'd be handling this as well as you are. I probably would've slapped Kenna the first time I saw her. I would be absolutely livid. I admire you, you know, for being the bigger person…"

Railey stood up, nearly knocking the bench she had been sitting on over in her hurry. Lunch was nearly over anyway, and she had a lot to do before lessons began tomorrow. Like crying. Yeah, a lot of crying.

* * *

Someone rapped on the door and Kat jumped, dropping the shirt she was folding back into her trunk. She'd decided to unpack through dinner, since she'd arrived so late. Who else had decided to skip?

"The door's unlocked," Kat said against her better judgment; she'd grown up in New York City, and the last thing you'd ever do was openly invite someone into your house without knowing who they were first. The door opened and Kat looked over her shoulder, noticing a boy she hadn't seen yet, or been introduced to by Daphne, who seemed to know every boy over fourteen in the entire school.

"Hi, if you're here for Pansy or Daphne, they're both at dinner," Kat said, returning to her folding. She slid the shirt into its designated drawer.

"You're a yank," were the first words out of the boy's mouth, and she noticed his posh accent with a cringe. People always said money talks, and Kat agreed – she could tell by the way the boy spoke that his family probably had more money than they knew what to do with.

"Yeah, I just transferred from Salem. Or rather, I wasn't really invited back to Salem," Kat said as she faced the boy. "I'm Kat." She tucked a curl behind her ear. He made her nervous, even though she didn't know his name.

"Draco Malfoy," the boy said with a nod. Kat frowned. "Would you rather I'm Robert Pattinson?," Draco asked as he noticed her scowl. "I know all you American birds are crazy about him after that idiotic vampire film." Kat bit her lip to keep from chuckling.

"No, it's just… I'm afraid of having my eyes ripped out," Kat admitted with a small smile. This was the Draco she'd been warned away from? She was pretty sure he was the most attractive boy she'd ever met. Uncommonly pale, true, but very, very well-groomed. Kat wouldn't be surprised if he went for manicures with Pansy.

"So she used that line on you too?," Draco asked with a grimace. "Don't be afraid of Pans. She means well, she really does, she's just a bit… prickly, sometimes." Kat laughed at that, shaking her head. "A honey bee," Draco continued. "Aims to be sweet, but mostly ends up stinging anyone she comes into contact with."

Kat shook her head. "That's amazingly accurate, and I've only known the girl a few hours."

"You're a lucky one, then," Draco joked with a smile of perfect, white teeth. "I've known her since I was… three? Yeah, sounds about right." Kat raised an eyebrow, but didn't reply, plucking a Helmut Lang skirt from her trunk and hanging it in her armoire.

"Well, I'll leave you to unpack, then. Nice to meet you, kitten," Draco drawled, his smile charming, and Kat wanted to melt at his playful words.

When he was gone, she fell forward, her forehead leaning against the door of her armoire heavily. She sighed. Perfect. Lusting hard after the one boy she wasn't supposed to even talk to. _Perfect._


	2. Gryffindor

**A/N: **Okay, here's the Gryffindors! I'm pretty sure this is a bit shorter than the last chapter, but I had a lot of you to introduce, and if I had gone into mega-detail we would've been here all day. And tbh, I'm eager to get onto the **Ravenclaws,** who are next!

Alright, **goldeneyedgirl247, FredFanatic, Writting2StayHalfSane, Sara Winters, **look for your characters, because they're here! Hope you don't mind what I made you do. :p PM if you have any concerns, suggestions, whatev about the next Gryff installment.

* * *

"You _can't_ have a thing for the D.A! That's just too fucking strange," Lavender Brown chastised Aly Night from her place, stretched out, on the floor. Aly rolled her eyes and turned the page of her month-old issue of _NYLON_.

"It's not like it's intentional. You should know better than anyone that sometimes you can't control yourself." Lavender winced at the intentional stab at her brief stint with Ron, in which she had lost her virginity in a sub-par session of "love-making" two weeks after they had gotten together.

"Whatever. It's still fucking weird." Lavender blew on her wet nails, freshly painted in China Glaze's 'For Audrey', an almost exact match to Tiffany's signature blue. "I mean, Lee Jordan? He's… well, he's _old_."

Aly snorted, crossing her tanned, outstretched legs at the ankle. "He's only two years older than us, Lav. Hell, we had classes together when he was still here, so it's almost like he's the same age." Aly tossed her magazine aside and hopped off of her bed, going over to her set of drawers and the mirror above it. She brushed her wavy hair away from her face, scrunching up her nose. She ran her thumb under her eye, fixing the light smudge of eyeliner left there. "Are we going out tonight? Who's partying?"

Lavender stood from the floor, crossing the room to stand next to Aly, reaching for mascara that clearly wasn't hers. "You don't want to go out, do you? What would your precious D.A. say about that?," Lavender spoke slowly as she reapplied mascara to her lashes, her mouth parted. Aly snatched the mascara from Lavender's hand.

"He doesn't have to know, does he?," she drawled with a smirk that would be more suited to a Slytherin. Aly went to her armoire, digging out a bright orange sundress with crochet detailing from Urban Outfitters. She grabbed a bottle of Belvedere vodka from underneath a pile of crumpled clothes, shaking it in a playful manner. "Now are you going to change into something cute, or am I going out alone?"

* * *

"You need to go back to your dorm. It's late." Lee Jordan slipped his grey cotton tee shirt back over his head, covering the smooth, dark skin that had been exposed only moments before. He rubbed a wide hand over his face tiredly, holding back a sigh.

Hooking her bra back together, Abby Klick sighed for him. "I know, I know. You just said so ten minutes ago." She looked around the bed, pushing the covers aside in search of her own shirt. Thank God it was the only other piece of clothing she'd taken off. Lee looked at her and frowned.

"I'm sorry, Abs. I don't mean to be so… so -"

"Rude? Touchy? Uncaring? Cold? Heartless?" Abby hurriedly tugged on her American Apparel royal blue v-neck shirt, eager to leave Lee's room and return to her own, where she could curl under the covers of her bed and cry. Cry, or drink, or just consume massive amounts of chocolate that would undoubtedly cause her to break out the next day.

Lee shook his head, his long dreads flopping about lazily with the motion. "Don't be like that, Abby." Abby guffawed.

"Like what? Hurt? Lee, you promised. You promised that when we got here nothing would change. You said that things would be the same as they were this summer." Abby buried her face in her hands, her long auburn hair falling around like a curtain.

Lee stood up, going over to his dresser, picking up a rubber band left sitting alone. He slid it around his dreads, pulling them back from his face. "It's just not that easy, Abby. I'm expected to be your dorm advisor. If I got caught with you, I'd be out of the job, and facing possible charges. You know-you _know_ that I want to be with you. It's just not that easy, alright?"

"Oh, fuck you, Lee, if you think that's true," Abby hissed from the bed. She'd just been starting to trust him. He'd seemed like the perfect boy over summer, and now he was going back on promises, changing in ways she didn't want to admit.

"It is true, Abby," Lee said exasperatedly. He placed both hands on the flat surface of his dresser, unable to face her. "It's dangerous. You're only sixteen. I'm nineteen, and your dorm advisor. I'm supposed to look after you, not be with you like this." Abby felt the burn of tears in her throat and eyes but she'd be damned if she cried in front of Lee.

"Well then don't be with me," Abby breathed, standing up from the bed and grabbing her Vans. "And I'm seventeen, you asshole."

* * *

Seamus Finnigan slammed his empty Carling can down onto the table in the middle of the attic room of the Gryffindor dormitory. A few empty cans rolled from the table and onto the floor, unnoticed by the rest of the partiers.

"Tastes like piss," he said loudly, "But there's a lot of it!" He swung around drunkenly, his arm reaching out and wrapping around Aly's shoulders, pulling her close to him. Aly swayed uneasily in her Minnetonka fringed boots, grinning when she saw it was only Seamus.

"Aly, Aly m'dear," Seamus breathed and Ali grimaced at the overpowering stench of alcohol. "So glad to see you back in top form, if you get what I mean." He winked lewdly and Ali rolled her eyes.

"Fuck off, Seamus," Aly said sweetly, pushing the sandy-haired Irish boy away.

* * *

Stumbling backwards, Seamus promptly bumped into a petite girl who was staring at him with wide green-eyes. Her shirt had the words 'Be Juicy' in big pink letters, and Seamus squeezed his eyes shut, blocking out the words that were cleverly placed over her chest.

"Jane!" The girl jumped at his outburst and giggled femininely.

"Hi, Seamus," she said, her voice high-pitched and light. "Have a good summer holiday?"

Seamus leered at the girl openly, before shaking his head like a wet dog and nodding. "An absolutely lovely summer, milady. Yourself?" Jane shrugged, nodding.

"I didn't see you at any parties," she said, looking up at him through her lashes. "I expected you'd at least be at Dean's when his parents were gone on holiday to Ibiza." Resting a large hand on Jane's delicate shoulder, Seamus shook his head.

"I was st-… studying abroad! In America. Believe it or not, I was doing something productive," Seamus said, each word becoming longer than the one before it, proof of how absolutely smashed he was. Jane smiled interestedly, her heart pounding in her chest at every small smile she received from the broad boy that towered in front of her.

"Are you playing goal for the football team again?," Jane asked, eager to keep the conversation going.

Seamus nodded, reaching for the cup in Jane's hand and taking a gulp of the cranberry juice and Malibu concoction. "I am, but if Draco doesn't stop shitting up the field, I might just quit. I mean, he was our star forward last year, and now he might as well play for fucking Blackburn. They're shit enough as it is, they wouldn't mind."

Jane only nodded again, not knowing a thing about the most popular sport in the world. It didn't matter though, did it? She had captured Seamus' attention, and that was a feat in itself.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I see an absolutely beautiful bird over there-," he pointed a stubby finger, "and I must go say hello."

And then he was gone.

* * *

Sara Winters watched Seamus as he lumbered across the room in her direction, shaking her head. She needed to think of something quick before that big, drunken mess of a boy attacked her. Because he more than likely would, as he was completely shameless when intoxicated. Shameless Seamus, they liked to tease him, and he always latched onto Sara when he had been drinking.

She looked around, anxiously tugging on her earlobe, a nervous habit. Spotting Harry Potter, she marched over to him, the heels of her boots clicking against the wooden floorboard. Harry looked up from where he was sitting alone, on a ratty maroon couch, his eyes bloodshot in the familiar way that only happens after smoking marijuana.

"Just… be cool, okay?," Sara said hurriedly, hesitating only a few seconds before placing herself in Harry's lap, her arms around his neck.

Harry watched her with confusion in his eyes, but made no complaints. Sara glanced over, seeing Seamus still approaching, his hand raised in greeting. She turned around quickly, smashing her lips onto Harry's in a very ungraceful kiss. Harry's eyes widened momentarily before he sighed contentedly, returning the kiss with a stoned slowness. Sara, surprised at the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach, let her eyes slide closed as she continued kissing one of the most popular, and good-looking, boys in the entire school. He didn't seem to mind, and she was intent on continuing until she felt a claw-like hand grab her shoulder and rip her away from Harry's mouth.

"You fucking cow!," Ginny Weasley screeched, red-faced as Sara tumbled to the floor from Harry's lap. "That's my_ boyfriend_ you're attacking!"

"Look, I can explain," Sara said, holding her hands up, not in the least worried about the gangly girl who currently was trying to look as threatening as she could.

"I'm sure you can, but I'd rather not hear it," Ginny growled, raising her hand in an imminent slap. Sara rolled her eyes, grabbing Ginny's hand before it could connect with her cheek.

"Let's not fight. You're what? Fucking fourteen?," Sara drawled, inconspicuously taking out her stud earrings.

Then, shit hit the fan.

* * *

"Lav? Lavvy-loo… where are you?," Aly whispered rather loudly as she stumbled back to the dorm. She hoped Lavender was already there, because she couldn't find her key and she wasn't keen on being locked out. A door in front of her swung open and Aly almost fell backward, grabbing onto the door handle to keep from hitting the ground.

"Have you been drinking?," Lee Jordan asked tiredly, staring at the girl who was currently clutching at his door in an attempt to keep her ground.

Aly snorted. "No. We're not allowed, duh." She rolled her eyes. "Would you spank me if I had been?," she asked flirtatiously, emboldened by her drunken state. Lee blinked at the girl, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Stand up straight," he commanded in a low voice. "Do you know how to get back to your dorm, or shall I escort you?" He knew the girl had been drinking, and that he should report her, but he'd been in her shoes once, and, for some reason, just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"A private escort for _moi_?," Aly asked with a giggle. She held her hand out. "Lead the way, Mr. Jordan." Lee only shook his head, his hand wrapping around the girls arm as he dragged her down the hallway.

"Which number?," he asked gruffly and Aly had to concentrate hard to remember.

"203," she finally said with a triumphant smile. Lee led her to the dorm, unlocking it with his master key. Snoring could be heard from inside and he sighed, happy that her roommate had at least made it back safely.

"Kiss me," Aly whispered, grabbing Lee's arm before he could turn and leave her, as he had intended.

"You're drunk," Lee said slowly. "And you need to go to bed, before I'm forced to report you to the Headmaster." Aly rolled her eyes, leaning up on her tiptoes until her lips were a hairsbreadth away from his.

"You're going to kiss me," she said, her voice low.

And he did.


	3. Ravenclaw

**A/N: **Blah, another one done! Here you are Ravenclaws. In this chapter, you will find:

**Becca-in-a-box, tonkswyrda, violet-phoenix-rose, & .**

If you're wondering why the characters seem a little underdeveloped, it's because they are! But more will be coming in the next Ravenclaw installment, and you'll understand my motives for making them act the way they do. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Violet Hughes sniffed again, shaking her head slightly, her pointer finger held close to her nostrils. She exhaled slowly, smiling at Anthony Goldstein.

"More?," Anthony asked, his eyes already flicking around the room.

"One more line," Violet breathed with a grin. "I have a 14 inch summer assignment due tomorrow that I haven't even started. I need something to keep me going."

Anthony took the same razor to the surface of Violet's compact mirror, creating an even finer white powder. Violet ran a hand anxiously through her choppy layers, reclining on the bed while she waited for Anthony to finish.

"Here you are, babe," Anthony said, his voice low as he passed her a rolled banknote, £50, which she took with eager, shaking fingers.

Leaning over the mirror, Violet bent down, slowly snorting the white line until every last spec of cocaine was gone.

* * *

"You're the other Gini, aren't you?" A third year that Gini Cooper had never seen before stood in front of her, looking at her expectantly as he clutched what appeared to be a card of some sort in his hand. She frowned.

"'The other Gini'? Well, most people just call me Gini, but I guess that works as well. What do you need? A tutor?" School hadn't even begun yet and Gini had already been approached twice with requests for a tutor. It must be the fact that she'd been promoted to prefect this year.

The boy only shook his head, looking troubled.

"Something else then? As your prefect, I'm here to listen to your concerns and help you in any possible way that I can," Gini said kindly. The Golden Rule was her favourite one, and she hoped it applied in this case.

"Actually, uhm, I- ," the boy stuttered, clutching the card tighter. "I was wondering if this... if this was you?" The boy thrust the card, which was actually a photo, in front of Gini. "I mean, it has the same purple hair, and glasses…"

Gini gasped at what she saw, her heart slamming against her ribcage, blood rushing to her face. A girl, topless, lay on her side on what was clearly a bed in a boy's dorm. The tips of her fingers were slipped past the edge of her lacy black underwear, and she was resting with her head propped up on her other hand. Gini gasped again, looking up at the boy and then back down at the picture. It was completely awful, inappropriate and downright scandalous.

The worst part was that the boy was right. It _was_ her.

* * *

"Becca, who are you stuck with this year?," Audrey Paloma Garcia Alvarez asked the girl currently trying to unlock the door across the hallway from her.

"Somebody called… Violet Hughes? Ever heard of her?" Audrey shook her head, her dangling gold earrings tinkling gently. Becca Wilson sighed, running her fingers through her ginger hair.

"Well, she's got the door locked pretty tight," Becca said distractedly as she jiggled the handle and pushed against the door with her shoulder. Audrey glanced over her shoulder, setting her brightly printed Vera Bradley duffel bag onto the floor of the hallway.

"Here, let me help." Audrey went over, standing next to Becca, their shoulders aligned with the door.

"One – Two – Three!" Both girls slammed into the door, and through the door, landing in a tangled heap on the floor.

"What the fuck?," Becca said loudly, raising herself up on her hands and knees. "Are you snorting crack in my dorm room?!" Violet gasped from the bed, dropping the mirror from her hands. Anthony, who was sitting shirtless in her desk chair, merely glanced over his shoulder at the two girls.

"No, you're seeing things," he drawled, grabbing his shirt and tugging it over his head. Audrey snorted at the Nintendo-themed graphics on the front.

Becca stood up from the floor, hands on her hips. "I'm pretty spacey most of the time, but I'm not that stupid, alright? I know what I saw." Audrey sighed, standing, pulling her floral sundress down.

"I'm Violet," the girl said, standing from the bed, extending a hand to Becca. Violet was too thin and Becca winced.

"Becca," she said in response. "And I'd really appreciate if you'd do your illegal activities somewhere else. I'm not trying to have my dorm searched."

"You're American," Violet said, ignoring Becca's remarks about her drug use. "Why are you here?"

"_Dios Mio_," Audrey sighed. "Well, Becca, I'll talk to you later," she said quietly, backing out of the room slowly.

"No, Audrey, you can stay. Right, Violet? If you're allowed to have your 'friends' over, I'm allowed to have mine." Becca raised an eyebrow, daring Violet to respond.

"You mean Anthony? If you're going to talk about him, you might as well call him by name. Anthony meet Bella, Bella meet Anthony." Audrey slapped her palm to her forehead. There was no way this could turn out good.

"It's Becca," the taller girl growled. "If you don't mind _Anthony_, I'm rather tired and need to unpack. So if you'd just leave…" Anthony stood up, holding his hands up in mock surrender. Audrey snuck out the door, hoping not to be noticed. The last thing she wanted was to witness a murder.

* * *

"Colin! Colin Daniel Creevey, you bastard!" Colin's head snapped up from where he had been cleaning his lenses.

"What is it, love?," Colin asked meekly, pressing his thick-rimmed glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

"This," Gini hissed, shoving the picture in front of Colin. "How did _this_ get out?" Colin's mouth fell open and he looked nervously at the picture, before hesitantly looking at Gini.

"Gini, sweetheart…"

"Don't you dare 'sweetheart' me, Creevey," Gini snarled, her lip curling in a particularly scary way. She ripped the picture in half, throwing the two scraps to the ground. Huffing, she spun around, pacing the length of Colin's single dorm. "I can't… I can't believe you! I told you not to develop those photos, and that if you did, you needed to keep them at home! But no, why should you listen to me? I'm only the one posing in your pornographic pictures!" Colin sat quietly on his bed, his eyes wide. "Are you completely stupid? Or just utterly mad? I'm a fucking prefect, Colin, and if anyone important were to see these photos, I doubt I'd be a prefect much longer!"

"I'm sorry?," Colin said, more of a question than a sincere statement. His soft brown eyes searched Gini's face, hoping she'd find it in her heart to forgive him.

"I just – I don't get it, Colin," Gini said with a sigh. "What did you do, sell them as people entered the dorm?" Colin shook his head, setting his lens down and standing up, wrapping his arms around Ginny who was determinedly facing away from him.

"I developed another copy, so I could take it to school. It must've fallen out of my bag on my way in. I promise it's the only one I had. No one will believe that third year anyway, if he says anything. My guess is he won't. Anyway, I'm sorry." Colin kissed Gini's temple and she softened in his arms. "Really, I am. I should've listened to you. As always." Gini found herself smiling.

"One more question, Colin," Gini drawled, turning in his arms to face him. Colin looked at her expectantly, waiting. "Why did you need that photo? You've got the real thing right here."

* * *

Audrey was quiet, counting every time Luna Lovegood, her roommate, snored. She couldn't sleep, and she knew exactly why, but she didn't want to think about it. The more she thought about it, or him, rather, the less sleep she got. It was wrong really, he was so much older than her fifteen years. But if something didn't _feel_ wrong, was it truly wrong? Audrey sighed, turning in bed to face the wall. She should be more sensible, she shouldn't act so rashly…

A tapping on the window distracted her from her thoughts. She ignored it, thinking it to be a normal night sound, until it happened again, and again. Standing up from her bed, Audrey tiptoed over the window, pushing it open with her fingertips. Leaning out far enough to see the two stories down to the ground, she was unsure whether to smile or cry at the sight she saw.

"Missing me already?," Fred Weasley stage-whispered to Audrey, a grin spreading across his lightly freckled face. Audrey rolled her eyes, but his smile was contagious.

"Not as much as you'd like," she teased. "What are you doing here?"

"You know my mate, Oliver? He coaches the football team. I came to see you, but he was my excuse to get a pass onto the grounds." Audrey bit her lip, trying not to show how happy she truly was. She didn't want to feel that weak.

"I- you can't come up, Fred. My roommate- she's sleeping." Audrey tugged on the strap of her crème coloured camisole, pulling it back up over her shoulder.

"Then come down," Fred said, still smiling.

"How?," Audrey asked skeptically, knowing that her D.A. was most likely perched by the door, waiting for girls trying to sneak out for late night escapades.

"This sounds a bit far-fetched, but bear with me. I have some rope, and when I throw it up to you, I need you to catch it."


	4. Hufflepuffs Are Looking a Little Green

**A/N: **Uhm, first off, you all are SOOO spoiled! :p So, there were only two Hufflepuffs. Because of this, I decided to kind of start the meshing of characters/houses that I'm planning to continue throughout the other chapters. So this kinda morphed into a bit of Hufflepuff/Slytherin chapter. In this chapter, you will find:

**Emilie Austen Winchester & xoxcrescentmoonxox**

Right here, I was going to explain future chapter organization to you – but do you care? :p Enjoy! Gryff-centric chapter up next!

PS: Emilie Austen Winchester: Be happy that I blessed you with some of my favourite shoes everrrr. (: I was thinking about keeping them for my char. but they just seemed too fitting for you! :p

* * *

Emilie Austen Winchester stared at herself in the mirror, head cocked to one side. This wasn't like her, but she didn't care. It was a new school year, and she was going to start it off on the right, and absolutely insane, note. She carefully applied black liquid eyeliner to her upper lids only, being careful not to get any on her slightly too-long blunt cut fringe. She glanced in the corner of her mirror, where her roommate of three years, Claire Burns, could be seen, sitting, writing furiously in a notebook.

Emilie straightened up, leaning over to slip into her Alexander McQueen Union Jack Ankle boots. "Do I look alright, Claire?"

Claire looked up from where she was writing, giving Emilie the once over. She was wearing something quite different from her day-to-day boho look : black tights, short black draped chiffon dress, and a leather jacket. Not to mention the killer boots. Claire nodded. "You look great. Where are you going?"

"Don't you mean where are _we_ going?," Emilie asked with a smirk almost never seen on a Hufflepuff. Claire's eyes widened slightly and she closed her notebook, setting it beside her on the bed.

"We're going to the Slytherin's party. I heard they're having it in the basement this year." Emilie glanced at herself once again the mirror, adjusting her bra, pushing herself up. Claire only blinked.

"I don't think.. I don't think I have anything to wear," Claire said with a frown. "And before you suggest I borrow something, our body types are not nearly the same, and I never fit into your clothes."

Emilie sighed. "Do you own anything black, Claire?"

"Well, yeah, of course," Claire said with a shrug.

"Well, wear it."

* * *

Claire gnawed on her bottom lip nervously, almost full bottle of beer clutched in palm as she sat on an empty crate in the basement. She pulled at the collar of her J. Crew black v-neck sweater. She switched the damp bottle to her other hand, wiping her now-empty palm on her black skinny jeans. Emilie had even talked her into wearing a pair of black studded Sam Edelman wedges. They were Emilie's; they only thing they had in common was a shoe size.

Claire was pretty sure she hadn't realized how uncommonly good-looking the Slytherin boys were until tonight. And now, on top of her nerves about being caught, she had to worry about looking okay. She took another hesitant sip from her bottle, grimacing at the taste. Even though she'd never tried liquor before, Claire was positive she would probably like it more than _this_ bottle of piss.

"Here," an unfamiliar voice, belonging to Kat Dubrovskiy, said from her right. Claire looked up and realized she was being handed another beer.

"Uh, no thanks, still trying to finish off this one," Claire said with an uneasy smile. She hoped it was convincing.

"It's full of water," Kat said with a smile, shaking the bottle enticingly. "Trade me. I don't mind the piss taste."

Claire laughed softly, trading bottles with the girl. "How did you-"

"Know?," Kat asked with a smirk. "One of my best friends hates drinking. So when we go out, I always fill one with water for her, so it looks like she's partying and no one says anything. You had the same kind of look on your face."

Claire frowned. "It was that obvious?"

"Don't worry, I don't think anyone else noticed. I tend to watch people," Kat said, sitting on the crate next to Claire. "Cute shoes."

"Thanks," Claire smiled. "I watch people too. Pretty much what I've been doing for the past half-hour." Kat snorted.

"What do you know about that blonde boy, right… there?," the Slytherin girl asked, pointing to Draco Malfoy. Claire laughed dryly.

"He's on his fourth beer in thirty minutes. He doesn't look that drunk, but I'm guessing he was drinking for a bit before he came. His girlfriend's been hanging off his arm all night, and I'm getting the feeling that he wants to vomit on her shoes about now. They're Saint Laurent, Spring '09."

Kat raised an eyebrow at Claire, but smiled at her with respect. "Alright, P.I. Remind me to come to you if I ever need any sleuthing done." Claire blushed, though she smiled at the compliment. She scanned the room once again and groaned.

"Oh God, my roommate…"

* * *

"So, you play football?," Emilie asked with a bold smile, her hand resting on Blaise's arm, her back on the wall, her hips pushed out toward him. She took a sip from her red plastic cup, glancing at the dark liquid swirling around in it. She licked her lips, catching a drip.

Blaise nodded. "Captain, actually." He looked out of the corner of his eyes, praying that Daphne wasn't anywhere nearby. She probably wouldn't be happy when she found out that Emilie had had her hand on his arm for the past ten minutes and he hadn't even bothered to try removing it.

"Oh, so you must be really good at what you do," Emilie said, smirking again, her green eyes slightly unfocused. Blaise snorted at the girl's double entendre, wondering what house she was in. He'd never seen her before.

"You could… show me, sometime," Emilie continued, slurring slightly. Blaise's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?"

Emilie rolled her eyes, leaning off the wall and swaying uneasily. "I meant your footie skills. Not anything _dirty_."

Blaise smirked. "Sure you didn't."

* * *

"So, dragon girl's giving your arm a break?," Kat asked, closer to Draco's ear than he realized. He nearly jumped out of his skin at the warm breath, but he was drunk and it took him at least five seconds to process everything.

"Hi, kitten," Draco drawled, turning to face Pansy's new roommate. "Having fun at your first Slytherin party?"

"I'm getting there," Kat said, motioning to her half empty bottle. "Seems like you've already passed fun and are heading into comatose." Draco chuckled.

"Didn't know one lead to the other, but fuck off," Draco said with a smile. "I can handle my drink, for your information." He hiccupped into his hand. "Your tits look great in that dress, by the way." Kat rolled her eyes.

"Sure you can handle your drink," she drawled, patting his cheek sharply. Draco yelped and frowned at the girl, but soon forgot why he was angry anyway. "W. W. P. S? What would Pansy say?" Draco snorted at her lame joke, but didn't have the capacity to form a witty remark. He didn't have to though, because someone else did.

"Pansy would say 'get the fuck away from my boyfriend'," the devil herself drawled, her claws wrapping around Draco's arm once again.

"Right, well next time you see her, don't mention this," Kat said with a wink before sidling away. Draco chuckled. Pansy hit him sharply on the arm. "Don't laugh."

* * *

"You know she's only fourteen, right?," Railey said from behind Theo. Only moments before, Helena Black, with her long black hair and diamond lip stud had flounced away happily, a new number in her black Blackberry Pearl.

"She told me she was sixteen," Theo said with a shrug, turning to face Railey, forcing his features into a look of complete nonchalance. "Don't be bitter."

"Bitter?," Railey snorted. "Give me a minute. I'm trying to think of what a fourteen-year-old could possibly have that I don't." Theo stepped closer to Railey, shaking his head, features drifting into a scowl.

"Don't embarrass yourself, Rai," Theo spat, drink turning him into the bastard he didn't want to be. "The whole 'woman-scorned' thing doesn't suit you. Now I've given you the chance to talk about… what happened, with me. You didn't want to. So I'm assuming that means you don't want anything to do with me." He looked away from her hurt face before continuing.

"Just let me get over you the way I want to."

* * *

"Are you alright?," Kat asked hesitantly as she pushed the door to the boy's bathroom stall open. She'd been on her way back to her dorm when she'd heard someone retching their guts up in the boy's second floor bathroom.

She rolled her eyes when she saw who it was. "You really _can't_ handle your drink." She could say the same for herself, as the swinging metal door felt like the only thing keeping her upright, but she didn't think now was the time to mention exactly how inebriated she felt.

Draco groaned, one arm resting on the porcelain seat. " 'm fine," he slurred before leaning in and spewing again. Kat grimaced, holding a finger daintily under her nose.

"Where's Pansy?," she asked, leaving the door open as she went to the sink, wetting a paper towel.

"Didn't want to… leave just yet. I couldn't – couldn't stand straight anymore, so-," he paused, covering his mouth with the back of his hand for a moment. "I left."

Kat sighed, crouching down next to Draco. He sat up, leaning back against the side of the stall. Taking the towel from her hand, he wiped his mouth, his nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Can you stand up?," Kat asked, holding back a laugh as Draco struggled to his feet. She put her cool palm to her forehead, taking a deep breath, beginning to feel a bit more sober than she previously was. "Come on, I'll take you to your dorm."

Leaning heavily on Kat, Draco managed to lead her all the way down the hall without needing to stop, sit, or fall over. He couldn't unlock his door though; Kat had to do that for him.

"Bed," Kat commanded with a chuckle, watching as Draco went over and flopped onto his bed lifelessly. She sighed, turning to leave.

"Sleep with me," came the muffled demand.

Kat snorted. "I'm not sure what you've been told, but I'm not really like that. True, I'm drunk, and it's happened before. But I learn from my mistakes."

Draco raised his head enough to shoot her a scathing look. "I'm dating a lethal weapon. I'm not that stupid. I just... lay with me, please?"

Kat felt the last of her resolve melting away at his quiet plea. She bit the pad of her thumb, contemplating.

"Alright, but if you try anything- I'll knock your teeth out."

* * *

Blaise stepped out of the broom closet on the first floor hallway with a sated smile. He straightened out his shirt, zippering and buttoning his Diesel jeans. He took a steadying breath, running his long fingers through his loose black curls. With an intoxicated grin, he set off back in the direction of the party.

Exactly two minutes and eleven seconds later, Claire stepped out of the very same broom closet.


	5. Radios and Wake Up Calls

**A/N: **Personally, I think this sucks, but at least it's longer than the last few chapters have been! :p This was kind of challenging, as it's the first chapter that combines characters. OH WELL. I hope you enjoy the mega-scandal! I have lots planned for the next chapter! (Which I will more than likely begin as soon as I'm finished uploading this one. ) Much love, ladies!

* * *

Aly groaned, taking a small sip from her bottle of sparkling mineral water. She pulled her straw fedora farther down on her head, avoiding eye contact with Lavender, who had just sat down across from her.

"Not eating lunch?," Lavender asked, playing dumb to the obvious fact that Aly was hung over. Aly shot Lavender a look, hoping to shut her up.

" How'd you get back to the dorm last night?," Lavender continued, taking a bite of the Golden Delicious apple in her hand. Aly smiled.

"That absolutely gorgeous man right there," she drawled, waggling her fingers at Lee, who was sitting with the D.A.s from the other three dorms. He nodded inconspicuously in response.

Lavender groaned. "You didn't _do_ anything with him, did you?" Aly's smirk widened. Lavender sighed, setting her apple down on her lunch tray. "He's our D.A. You'll get him fired." Rolling her eyes, Aly reached over, taking Lavender's apple and biting into it.

"Stop being so sour. He knew _exactly_ what he was doing," Aly said with a playful wink. Lavender paled and choked the swig of apple juice she'd just taken. "We kissed. Twice. And that was it. I think he thought I was too drunk to remember. But oh, do I remember…"

Lavender only shook her head. "Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I heard he already has a girlfriend. Ron mentioned something about it once, when we were with Fred and George. And it sounded like she was a long-term fixture, if you know what I mean."

"Has that ever stopped me before?," Aly asked pointedly. "I mean, really, Lav. Has it?"

"I guess not."

* * *

Sara Winters picked up her Physics textbook, making sure she was perfectly concealed behind it. Ginny had just walked in and it was like her shiny black eye was screaming, "Look at me! Fucking look at me, Goddamit, all of you!" Everyone, it seemed, had turned in their seats to whisper behind their hands and stare. Sara only shrunk lower behind her textbook, hoping the redhead hadn't noticed she was there.

"Hiding from my girlfriend?," Harry Potter asked with an amused smirk, sitting on the bench next to Sara. "Scoot over a bit; I want to hide, as well." Sara jumped, though she complied without question. Then, after her momentary lapse of reason, she turned on him.

"What do you think you're doing? What if she sees us?," Sara hissed. "I am not trying to get in a fight with her again. I nearly lost a chunk of hair last night, and there's not much there as it is." Harry only rolled his eyes.

"Just be cool – okay?," he said teasingly, a direct repeat of her words from the night before. "She's not going to do anything. Especially not with her eye looking like that. I'd be willing to wager that by tomorrow it's turned a nice purpley-yellow shade." Sara laughed despite herself, snorting embarrassingly. She turned a pretty shade of pink, but Harry only smiled with amusement.

"Y'know," he said, standing up, "Anytime you need to spontaneously make-out with someone? I'm your man." Sara's eyes widened, before she broke out grinning. _Girlfriend,_ she told herself, _He has a girlfriend._ Oh, fuck it.

* * *

"You can't hide in here, forever, Abs," Lee said from the doorway, his shoulder leaning into the doorjamb. Abby removed her headphones, pushing a few buttons on the switchboard until the bright 'On Air' light blinked off.

"You're right, I can't. But from four to seven, I'm the DJ, so until then, I'm fine where I am," Abby retorted, leaning back in the black leather office chair. Lee stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

"And as the man running the school's radio station, I'm telling you to leave. You've been here since two, and its five now. I'll substitute until MacMillan comes." Lee went over to the switchboard, reaching for the headphones. Her hand shooting out, Abby grabbed the headphones at the same time as Lee.

"No," she said firmly. "I have the extra time, and this is a student-run station. Now, if you wouldn't mind, commercial break is almost over and I have to get back on the air." Lee reached over, sliding one of the knobs on the board and hitting the play button.

"Now you have three more minutes, at least, to talk to me," Lee said seriously as the song began.

"What is there to talk about, Lee? I thought we decided last night…" Abby stopped, shaking her head, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"We didn't decide anything. You did. And I'm here to tell you I don't agree. I should be with you, regardless of what you think." Abby's front teeth sunk into her bottom lip and her foot tapped against the wood floor anxiously. She didn't want him to continue, she didn't want to hear his sweet words.

Lee came around to stand in front of her, finally kneeling, so that they were almost eye-level. "Abby, you mean something to me. I'm not letting you go that easily. I don't care what you think, I'm not."

"I can't… It's really hard to trust you, Lee. You have to understand that." Her fingers were itching to touch him, and she stuffed them into her jeans pockets to stop herself.

"Try for me, okay?," Lee said gently, picking up the headphones and sliding them back onto her head. "You're on the air."

* * *

Jane was the first person to get the text from Seamus. She'd been filing her nails in the back of the library when her phone buzzed from inside her purse. In a practiced way, she took out her phone, hiding it under her desk as she opened the message. It had taken her a full ten seconds to recover, however, after seeing that it was a text from Seamus.

_Find a radio rite nw! Turn it 2 the skool statn! WHO IS THT?!_

Jane stared at the words for a second before frowning with confusion. Who even listened to the school's radio station anymore? She sighed. Standing up, she packed up her things and headed off in search of a radio. Maybe she'd find the same one Seamus was currently listening too…

* * *

_Find a radio rite nw! Turn it 2 the skool statn! WHO IS THT?!_

"What?," Abby said quietly to herself. She didn't know the number that had sent her the message, so she knew it was a forward, going around the school. Being that she'd only left the studio an hour ago, she figured she'd better tune in. Leaving Lee in charge, she hadn't thought anything bad would happen, but apparently something big was going down.

Using the radio on her laptop, Abby picked up the station and what she heard caused her mouth to drop open and her eyes to pop out of her head.

"Ohh, yes…" Abby was completely floored by the feminine moaning being broadcasted over the radio station. She couldn't tell whose voice it was, and she wasn't sure she really wanted to know. Self-consciously, she turned the volume on her computer down, lest her roommate walk into a very awkward situation. The breathy moaning and groaning continued and Abby was lost. Why would Lee be broadcasting some porno voiceover on his prized station? He could get in serious trouble for that, couldn't he? He'd seemed so worried last night about trouble – Maybe this was his way of proving to her that he didn't care about what the school did to him, that he really _did_ want to be with her no matter what. Abby was convinced.

Until she heard Lee's familiar voice come out of the speaker's, urging the female voice on to do God-knows-what.

* * *

Lavender turned her radio off, staring blankly at the screen in front of her. Aly had said she'd be right back, that she was only going down to the station for a minute, to see if they needed _volunteers_. That had been forty-five minutes ago and there was no mistaking the female voice being broadcasted right now. Lavender rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms tiredly. What had gotten into that girl? Aly just had to be _her_ roommate, didn't she?

Oh well, she wasn't going to be the one to tell her this time.

* * *

"Do you hear this, mate?," Blaise asked as Draco walked in through the doors of the dormitory. The Italian boy was currently lounging on the plaid couch of the Commons, Daphne curled up beside him, cheeks tinged red. An old black radio sat on the short table in the center of the couch and chairs. Draco frowned.

"What the fuck are you listening to?," Kat said loudly, coming from the stairwell that led up to the third floor girl's dorms. Blaise sat up on the couch, grinning broadly.

"Some jokers are broadcasting their little fuck-sesh over the school station," he said, unable to contain his chuckle of amusement. Kat wasn't paying attention though; she'd turned around after realizing Draco was there, heading back towards the stairs. Draco shook his head at Blaise, who was currently fiddling with the controls of the radio, trying to find something better to listen to, before heading to the stairwell.

He took the steps two at a time until he could reach out and grab Kat's elbow, which he promptly did, sending her flying backwards into him.

"Why would you do that?," Kat seethed when she'd regained her balance on the step above Draco's.

"Why were you in my bed?," Draco hissed, running a hand anxiously through his shaggy platinum hair.

"What?" Kat's face scrunched up in confusion and she comprehended his words. She bent over, picking up the tortoise-shell Ray-Ban Wayfarers that had fallen from her pocket when he'd grabbed her. "You don't remember?" Draco paled.

"We didn't have sex did we?" Kat noticed he seemed a bit _too_ worried for the normal seventeen-year-old male.

"No," she said, rolling her eyes. "You were puking, so I took care of you, and then you asked me to lay with you. I was drunk, so I passed out there. Now, if you'll let me go back to my dorm…" Spinning on her three-inch heel, Kat turned, heading up the stairs.

"Thanks, kitten." She smiled.

* * *

"Madre de Dios," Audrey gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. "What the hell happened to you, Becca?" Becca only frowned, throwing the hairclip she'd just removed onto Audrey's bed.

"I woke up like this," Becca growled, running a hand through her now chin-length orange hair. "It was that bitch, I know it. She was pissed 'cause I walked in on her little nose party, so she cut my hair." Audrey stared at the choppy ends in shock. If she hadn't been out so late with Fred, she might've been able to muster up a bit more of a reaction, but she was about to fall asleep in her desk chair.

"I can cut it," she offered, hoping that Becca wouldn't burst into tears. It already looked as if she'd been crying for hours.

"Go for it," Becca sighed, going through Audrey's desk drawers until she found a pair of scissors. "It's not like it could possibly get much worse." Audrey took the scissors hesitantly, knowing she held her life in her hands. Becca was _very_ particular about her hair.

"Trade me places," Audrey said gently, standing up from her chair. Becca sat down with a heavy sigh. "Can't you get reassigned to a new room? I've heard there are a few girls on our floor with singles."

"I don't want to get reassigned." Audrey raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, waiting for Becca to continue. "I want to be her roommate. If I wasn't, how could I get my revenge?"


	6. Risky Business, Pink Dye and World War 3

**A/N: **So much shorter than it should be! But the next one's probably going to be terribly long, because I'm more than likely going to include pretty much everyone in it. Hooray for that! Don't expect it to be up today, however, as it might take me a bit longer to write. Anyhow, hope you all enjoy! Hugs, as always! (:

* * *

"What are we going to call it?," Madeline Johnson asked her roommate, Helena Black, as she used a tube of black lipstick to make a horizontal line under each hazel eye. "Come here, it's your turn."

Helena stood from her bed, grabbing the other camouflage bandana and handing it to Maddiy. "I don't know… I'm thinking 'Operation Capture Theo'. O.C.T. for short." Maddiy carefully applied two lines of black under Helly's eyes.

"That makes it sound like Capture the Flag," Maddiy teased as she tied the bandana around her thin bicep. Helly snorted, pulling her straight black hair up into a sloppy bun.

"Except there's no competition in this game," Helly said with a smirk, crouching down to tie the laces of her black patent leather Doc Martens. "I think we look about ready for combat, don't you think?" Maddiy reached over to her laptop, pausing the Bring Me The Horizon song that had been blaring. She looked down at her own boots, their matching camouflage pants and black tank tops, and nodded.

"Alright," Helly began in her best military voice, "At twenty-one-hundred… that's nine o'clock, right? Anyway, at twenty-one-hundred we will approach the seventh-year boy's dorm. We will carefully maneuver past the D.A.'s room and go straight to Theo's, boynapping him if we must." Maddiy's grin had widened as Helly spoke and she bounced eagerly on her toes.

"What's his room number?," Maddiy asked, holding up a finger to pause the excitement. Helly gave her a blank look before shrugging her shoulders. "You don't know?" Helly shook her head, smirking. "Why don't you text him and find out?"

"That ruins the surprise, Mads!," Helly said as if it were the most obvious thing. "Plus, you don't warn someone before you kidnap them."

* * *

Violet stalked into Anthony's dorm, slamming the door behind her so hard that it shook the foundations. Anthony dropped his Xbox controller beside him on his bed and took his Live headset off.

"You know, Vi, if you keep your face like that, it's going to stick," he teased about her serious frown, oblivious to the fact that she was on the warpath. Violet merely gnashed her teeth at him in response, and Anthony shut up.

"Notice anything different about me, Ant?," Violet asked with a saccharine smile that was anything but sincere. "Here… I'll give you a hint. Look at my fucking shirt." Anthony's eyes dropped from her face to her chest, and then drifted to her face again.

"It's fucking magenta, Anthony!," Violet fumed, pulling the offensive garment away from her skin. "It was white yesterday, and today it's fucking hot pink! Everything I own that was white is pink! I swear, it's that lady dog that happens to be my roommate." She shook her head. "I don't wear pink, Anthony. My _underwear_ are pink, Anthony."

"You can stay with me if you want, Vi," Anthony offered with a shrug, picking up his game controller again and returning to Call of Duty. She shook her head and Anthony raised an eyebrow.

"This is war, now, Anthony. And by 'war' I mean World War Three."

* * *

Gini Cooper took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She'd thought that holding a study group for fourth years would be easy, but all they'd done for the past hour was gossip about who was dating who and who was hooking up with who even though they were dating someone else. Gini sighed, closing the textbook in front of her.

"Are we going to get any work done?," she said finally, exasperated. She had better things to do, mainly spending time with Colin and doing her own homework, but both were infinitely better than hanging out with this lot.

"Actually, we have a question," the boldest of the small Ravenclaw group piped up. She'd been staring at Gini since they started the study group and it had been unnerving, to say the least.

"Yes?," Gini prompted as she cracked open the textbook again. Finally. She'd been waiting to actually do some tutoring.

"Ben McPherson said that there were nudes of you going around the school. Is it true?" The girl looked at Gini expectantly, a small smile playing on her lips. Gini wanted to smack her.

"Yeah, I heard there was a video going around, too," another girl piped up and Gini's mouth dropped open. There wasn't a video! At least, not one that she was aware of.

"Alison told Victoria that you got offered a job to pose for Playboy. I didn't think it was true, but I guess you're alright looking…"

"Yeah, are you going to do it? Or are you just going to make more films? That'd be so cool! I mean, think about it – one of our prefects, a porn star!"

"She's underage, you imbecile, she can't."

Gini dropped her head to the desk in front of her. She was going to murder Colin.

* * *

"What are you two doing?!," Draco exclaimed, completely shocked by the sight that greeted him when he opened the door to his dorm. He thought he'd seen everything; on more than one occasion, he had walked in on some very lewd acts. However, this took the cake.

Kat skidded to a halt in front of him, her regulation uniform socks causing her to slide across the floor. She smiled sheepishly, looking back at Blaise, who was bent over, hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

"There is a perfectly normal explanation for this," she said calmly, removing her Wayfarers and running a hand through her loose curls.

"Well, I think you should start by answering why you're in your underwear with my best friend, who is also, consequently, in his underwear." Draco had a pale eyebrow raised, arms crossed over his chest. He looked particularly imposing in his uniform jacket and tie. Kat looked down at her own school shirt and black Calvin Klein boy shorts.

"Blaise and I have French Lit. together, and I came to borrow his copy of _Candide_, and when I got here he was watching _Risky Business_, you know, the movie where Tom Cruise dances around in his underwear. And sunglasses. Well, basically, just like this," Kat rambled, motioning to herself. "So anyway, I was watching it with Blaise and that part came on and we both put our sunglasses on, which I thought was kind of funny, and then, well, we realized that we could… re-enact the scene. That's why we're like this."

Blaise stood up, smiling widely before bursting into laughter. "Mate, you've gotta try it. It's quite liberating, actually." Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock N' Roll" could be heard still playing in the background.

"Yeah, get naked," Kat urged playfully, sliding over to Draco and loosening his tie.

"Move those fingers one more inch and I'll scalp you," came an all-too-familiar voice from the doorway. Kat removed her hands as if they'd been burned, clasping them together behind her back.

"What the fuck are you doing?," Daphne whined pitifully, coming through the door, her eyes trained on Blaise. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, scratching the back of his neck guiltily.

"There's a perfectly good explanation," Blaise said hurriedly, repeating Kat's earlier-spoken words.

"Like hell there is," Pansy drawled from the doorway, stepping into the room in her firecracker red Christian Louboutin pumps. "Get out."

Kat looked at Pansy, and then at Draco, and then to Blaise. Blaise was whispering quietly to Daphne, who looked like she was about to burst into selfish tears at any moment. She looked back at Draco pleadingly, hoping for some kind of help. He stared at her with eyes devoid of any emotion and she quickly averted her gaze to the floor so he wouldn't see how hurt she was.

"I'll just-," Kat began, motioning to her regulation skirt and her navy blue Chanel flats sitting in a pile on the floor.

"Get. Out. Now," Pansy practically growled. "If I have to look at you for one more minute-" But Kat was already out the door, still in her underwear and button down shirt, skirt and shoes in her arms.

* * *

"You think this is the one?," Maddiy whispered to Helly as they both stood, crouched low outside a door marked 417.

"I can't tell," Helly said with a giggle, moving to rest on her hands and knees. "I'm going to look under the door and see if I can see anyone." She bent to the floor, her cheek resting against the linoleum.

"Can I help you ladies?" Maddiy eyes widened and she turned to look up at the owner of the voice. Helly sat up slowly, looking up at Theo.

"Uh. Is this your dorm?," Maddiy asked, at a loss for words after being caught.

"We're here to kidnap you!," Helly exclaimed more boldly. "If you resist, we'll use force." Theo chuckled before reaching over the two girls to unlock his dorm.

"My roommates not in," he said quite suggestively. "If you'd both rather come in instead of kidnapping me. Although that does sound like fun…"

Maddiy and Helly stood up from the floor, following one another into Theo's dorm. Theo went in last, closing the door behind him and locking it with a click.

None of them noticed Railey Mortimer, standing stock-still at the end of the hall, the new album by Theo's favourite band in her hand, the other clutching her promise ring.


	7. Secrets, Stairwells, and Sordid Affairs

**A/N: **Another one down, and I'm already getting ideas for the next. (: I feel like the drama gets more and more intense with each chapter! Once again, I've left you with a lot of loose ends, all of which will be tied up in the next installment. Also, don't fret if you weren't in this chapter, you'll definitely be in the next. (:

* * *

"Why is everyone looking at me funny, Lav?," Aly asked in a hushed tone as she set her breakfast tray down on the table. Lavender glanced up at her and shrugged, returning to putting on her DiorKiss lip gloss. Aly groaned lightly, pushing a hand through her wavy locks in exasperation. "Come on, I know you know. Now tell me. Do I have something in my teeth? Is my skirt stuck in my underwear? Tell me." She really hoped it wasn't her skirt, because it was her favourite high-waisted teal jersey knit from American Apparel.

"No, you look fine," Lavender said lightly, uninterestedly. Aly sighed, placing both of her hands flat on the table.

"If you're not going to tell me, I'll ask Seamus. He certainly has no problem with being brutally honest." Standing up from where she sat, Aly walked to where Seamus was hurriedly finishing a homework assignment, bravely ignoring the stares, catcalls and whispers.

"Seamus, hi," she began, smiling brightly. "Mind telling me what's wrong with me? Why is everyone staring at me like I've grown another head? Lav wouldn't say anything, but do I have something in my teeth?" She bared her teeth, nose scrunched as she smiled widely.

"That would be the least of your worries, m'love," Seamus said, giving Aly a look of sympathy.

"What? My skirt's not stuck in my underwear, I checked." Self-consciously, Aly slid a hand underneath of herself, making sure for a second time that her skirt wasn't stuck.

"Could be the fact that you had sex on the radio last night," Seamus relayed to her, for once no amusement in his voice. "But that's just a thought." Aly frowned. What was he talking about?

"What are you talking about?," she asked, voicing her thoughts. She'd been in the studio last night, with Lee, that much was true, but she didn't have sex on the air!

"Last night," Seamus repeated with a sigh. "No one would've known it was you, but Lavender seemed too happy to tell everyone." Aly was still staring at him, clueless. "Aly, last night, I don't know what you were doing, but it was broadcasted over the school's radio station. The noises of you, well, you know…"

Heart dropping to somewhere near her feet, Aly could feel her breath catch. After a moment, she gasped for air, not realizing that she'd been holding her breath. This just wasn't possible. He was lying, right? It was all a joke, wasn't it?

Oh fuck.

* * *

"I take it I missed something pretty big last night?," Sara asked as Audrey took a seat next to her in Art History. After a moment of no response, Sara repeated her question. Audrey blinked, hearing her for the first time.

"Sorry, I'm exhausted," Audrey breathed, resting her chin in both hands. "And if you missed it, I did too. I was cutting Becca's hair." Audrey grimaced. "If she ever asks you to do it, tell her no."

Chuckling, Sara popped a stick of gum into her mouth. "Gum?" Audrey shook her head, yawning into her closed fist. "Can I talk to you about something?" Smiling politely, Audrey nodded, when all she wanted was to roll her eyes. Since when had she become everyone's therapist? Last night, she'd been up until three fixing Becca's hair. She'd added it up; Audrey had had a total of five hours of sleep in the past two days.

As if that wasn't enough, Fred had sent her a particularly confusing text message around two in the morning. All it said was, "We need to talk." Words that usually meant something Audrey didn't even want to think about, lest she jinx herself.

"… but he has a girlfriend. Who has made it quite clear that she doesn't mind physically defending him. I mean, I can kick her ass once, but you know how people can be once they've lost. They come back with a vengeance…"

Audrey realized she had no idea who Sara was talking about.

* * *

"Fred! What are you doing here?" Abby had been on her way to Chemistry when she'd seen a familiar redhead coming down the hallway, a visitors badge slapped onto his shirt. She'd become friends with him around the same time she'd started dating Lee, but she hadn't seen him in about a month.

Fred grinned, wrapping his arms around Abby in a friendly, familial hug – the normal Weasley way of greeting. Abby inhaled slowly, hugging him in an almost desperate way, finding it comforting to have someone so close after the tumultuous two days she'd had.

"I'm here to see someone," Fred explained, his bright smile dimming for a moment. "And to visit Ron and Ginny, of course. I hear Ginny has a lovely black eye." Abby snorted.

"I wasn't there," she said, holding her hands up. "Or else I would've done something, you know that." Fred raised an eyebrow and Abby braced herself for the retort she knew was coming.

"I'm sure you weren't, you naughty girl. Not with Lee here, anyway. I'm sure your nights are busy," Fred teased, nudging Abby with his elbow. She sunk her teeth into her tongue, trying her hardest not to burst into tears on the spot.

"Actually, Lee and I aren't really together anymore." She exhaled harshly. It felt so much better to get it out, to just say it.

Fred looked like he hadn't heard her, and asked, "What?"

"Yeah, we decided it'd just be too complicated. So, I'm single again." This time, the tears did burn in Abby's eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She was sure Fred wouldn't care if she did cry, but she cared, and she knew she was stronger than she felt.

Fred sighed. "Well, we might be in the same boat sooner than you think."

* * *

"I- I'm a virgin," Claire said in one breath, causing Blaise to lift his head from where he was laving her neck with kisses and love bites. Chuckling, he sat up, moving his hands off of her.

"So you've mentioned. Twice in the past ten minutes, I think." He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a gush of breath. "And I've told you, we don't have to have sex. We didn't Sunday night, did we?"

Claire blushed red as she remembered the night of the party. "Why… why are you doing this with me?" She had been dying to know since the party, but too afraid to ask until now. Blaise looked at her, blue eyes drifting up her body, disheveled as she was. His eyes paused on her uniform skirt, pushed up around her waist, her cotton briefs pristinely white.

"You don't know?," Blaise asked with a smirk, his voice low and predatory. He moved over her again, his much larger body looming over hers. He could practically smell her fear, and it was intoxicating. Claire shook her head, her cheeks impossibly redder as she stared up at him with wide eyes, fighting the urge to squirm away. He leaned towards her and she closed her eyes impulsively, her lips parting in expectation. Blaise didn't kiss her, though, only leaned down until his lips were brushing against the lobe of her ear.

"How 'bout I show you every reason why, _bella_?"

* * *

Her dorm was eerily quiet as she entered it and Kat made a beeline for her desk, picking up her purple Chloé Ethel tote and emptying its contents onto her bed. She grabbed the Louis Vuitton cigarette case and the gold metal lighter, sighing in relief. Pausing, she looked around the room warily. Something didn't feel right.

Backpedaling as quickly as she could manage without dropping her cigarettes, Kat headed to the door, grabbing her key from where she'd left it in the lock and left hurriedly. Not paying attention to where she was going in her need to feed her addiction, she crashed into a very solid body on the stairwell.

"-the fuck?," she yelped, pushing away from the body, finding warm, grey eyes glaring back at her. Draco. Of course.

"We need to stop meeting like this," he joked lamely. Kat couldn't help but notice that his white tee shirt was soaked through with sweat, sticking to the muscles of his chest and stomach. _He must be on his way in from a run_. She gulped, blinking hard.

"Why didn't you defend me?," she blurted out in an exact contradiction of what she wanted to say. Kat hadn't ever planned on expressing her feelings about what had happened between her and Pansy, but her mouth seemed to have other ideas.

"What are you talking about?," Draco asked with a frown. "Oh- that."

"Yes – that," Kat said, nodding. "You could've said something you know. It was… humiliating. I walked all the way back to our dorm in my underwear. Which I really don't give a fuck about, but you should feel like shit for not making her at least give me the chance to put my skirt back on. I mean, I thought… I thought we were cool?" Draco stared at Kat, his eyes locked on her own brown ones. She felt uncomfortable and she shifted subconsciously, trying to escape his gaze.

"You done?" Kat nodded. "I'm sorry." She was surprised, to say the least. He didn't seem like the type to apologise. "You're right, I should've said something. But she's my girlfriend. That'd be putting me between a rock and a hard place. You understand, right?"

Looking away, Kat said nothing. She fingered her lighter, needing that cigarette now more than ever. "I need a smoke," she voiced, pushing past him and continuing down the stairs and straight out the door.

* * *

"Text me later, alright?," Theo said, leaning down to kiss Helena lingeringly. He pulled away, pecking her cheek before moving onto the other waiting mouth, belonging to Maddiy. Smiling, he pulled away from her, as well. "Be good." Both girls smiled at his words, before glancing at each other, sharing a look. They scurried away and Theo shut the door to his dorm, heading in the direction of the bathrooms. He slowed to a halt when he noticed Railey walking towards him.

"You know," she spoke up, "if you combine their ages together, they're actually legal." She didn't bother hiding the bitterness in her tone.

"Don't start, Railey," Theo said through gritted teeth. She shook her head.

"You know, maybe I was wrong. I don't see what _one_ fourteen-year-old has over me, but I can definitely see what _two _have. If only I could grow another vagina. Maybe things would've worked out then." Unnoticed, Railey's hands balled into fists at her sides. There was something to be said about her redhead's temper.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Theo bit out dangerously, defensively.

Railey laughed, a strange sound, high and slightly off-kilter. "You're right, Theo. I don't. Explain it to me. Please fucking explain it to me, because I'm _dying_ to know. I want to know what's wrong with me. What did I do to make you do _this_?"

Railey saw red when Theo used the oldest line in the book. "It's not you, Rai, it's me."

* * *

"Where have you been, miss?," Emilie asked the moment Claire cracked the door to their dorm open. She'd stayed with Blaise for another hour before being kicked out when Draco returned. She was still pondering over Blaise's words when Draco came through the door: "We're only studying." Was he ashamed of her? Why would he care if his best friend knew? It's not like he'd tell.

"Studying," Claire replied softly, setting her Coach messenger bag on the ground. She stepped out of her uniform, slipping into her conservative pyjamas.

"You think Blaise will text me?," Emilie asked offhandedly. "I mean, it's been days since Sunday, and he's yet to say anything. You know I gave my number to him at that party?"

"Yeah, I know, Emilie." Claire forced a hopeful smile. "I think tonight's the night. He'll text you." She made a mental note to mention Emilie to Blaise the next time she was with him. He should text her, just to be polite.

"He's so yummy, don't you think?" Claire's eyes widened at Emilie's words and she didn't reply. Emilie mistook her silence for embarrassment and chuckled. "It's okay, Clairey, you're allowed to think he's cute, as well."

Claire sighed. If only Emilie knew…


	8. Bows, Boys and Broom Closets

**A/N: **I probably could've gone on for another two hours with this one, but I know I'm a little late with updating, so I'll just put the rest in the next chapter. (: Alright, hope you like it. I'm thinking that there will probably be much more drama in the next chapter, and even more loose ends tied up.

* * *

"Jane, can I talk to you about something?" Jane's sea green eyes popped open in surprise and she nodded slowly, completely sure that Seamus Finnigan was about to proclaim his undying love for her. Seamus sighed, pulling out the wooden chair next to Jane and sitting in it heavily.

"I really like -," Here it was, he was about to say it. "Aly. I know, I know, she's not interested. But you can't blame a man for trying, can you?" Jane sputtered unattractively for a moment, trying to think of the right words to say to him. She set her pink pen down, tapping her French-manicured nails on the desk top anxiously.

"And I know she's, well, she's something to Lee," Seamus continued, "It's just really complicated, you know?" Jane only nodded, swallowing hard. Seamus didn't even pause for breath as he continued on.

"I really should just leave her alone. She's bad news, at least, that's what Dean told me. It's just something about her. I wouldn't expect you to understand Jane, as you're a bird yourself, but it's there, trust me." Jane shook her head.

"Seamus, you can be so thick sometimes," she scoffed, turning to him and taking his face in her small hands.

Watching Jane with wide blue eyes, Seamus gulped visibly. "Jane…"

"Oh, shut up." Wetting her glossed lips with her tongue, Jane leaned into him, sealing her lips to his. He may've missed every other signal she'd given him, but this one seemed rather obvious.

* * *

"Who's that?," Becca whispered conspicuously to Audrey as they sat down for dinner. Audrey frowned, looking around the dining hall, searching for the new face.

"Who?," she finally asked, finding no one new in the sea of familiar faces. Becca sighed, rolling her eyes.

"_That_ guy." She pointed her finger and Audrey's eyes followed it, landing on a handsome boy with curly brown hair that she'd never seen before. He looked kind of familiar, but Audrey was sure she'd never seen him before.

"I don't know. I think he's new. He's not in our house is he?," Audrey asked Becca, who was carefully reapplying her makeup, staring one-eyed into her small compact mirror. She paused, a small brush caked with brown eyeshadow dipped into the crease of her closed lid. "You like him, don't you, Bec?" Becca snorted, pushing a strand of short hair behind her ear. She rolled her eyes unconvincingly.

"I don't even know the guy, as we've already established," she drawled, moving onto her other eye. Audrey only smiled knowingly, twirling the spaghetti on her plate around a fork.

"He's kinda cute, don't you think?," Becca asked self-consciously, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to make it more presentable. Audrey covered her mouth with her hand so Becca wouldn't pick up on the fact that she was holding back her laughter.

"Sure, he is, Bec. I think you should go talk to him," Audrey suggested emphatically. Becca gave her a look, a pale red eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, maybe I should."

* * *

Gini practically tore Colin's dorm room door off its hinges when she opened it, her eyes a direct reflection of her anger. Colin's head snapped up from where it had been, face down on his desk, as he slept, drooling onto a World History essay. He wiped the back of a hand over his mouth quickly, blinking sleepily.

"You have got to stop bursting in like that, Gin," Colin slurred tiredly, trying to flatten out his brown hair with his hands.

"Did you video tape us having sex?," Gini demanded, hands on her hips in an intimidating manner.

"Excuse me?," Colin blurted out. "I expected a 'Sure, I'll be more careful with your door'. Not that." He shook his head. "What's gotten into you? I apologised about the picture already. You're not being paranoid, are you?" Gini's hands were still on her hips and she only sneered at Colin in her frustration. He gulped, scooting back an inch in his chair. Recognising his frightened look, Gini sighed.

"Sorry, Colin. I just.. I guess I'm just stressed." She covered her face with both hands, wishing they were a pillow she could scream into. Two thin, though strong, arms wrapped around Gini, and she felt Colin's chin as he rested it on her head.

"What's stressing you, pet?," Colin asked, his voice an octave lower and ultimately comforting. Gini felt the pinprick of tears in her eyes and she wiped at them hurriedly, unsure of why she was crying.

"I don't know," she groaned, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I'm just overwhelmed. I have prefect duties, and then study sessions with the fourth years – don't even get me started on those- and I'm expected to help organize the Halloween dance, and it's just too much." Gini could feel the vibrations of Colin chuckling and she hit him lightly in the chest. "Why are you laughing at me?"

"I'm not laughing at you." Colin snorted, hiding a smile. "Seriously. I just don't understand why you feel that you _have_ to do all of this… stuff. If it's too much, just tell the Headmaster. Really."

"But I have to," Ginny whined. "I know it sucks now, it really does, but I'll deal with it. I'll just have to find some way to calm down, some sort of stress relief." Colin smirked at her innocent words, taking them in an entirely different way.

"Well, I can certainly think of one or two ways…" Gini punched him in the chest again, but this time she was smiling.

* * *

"Okay, now I know you're completely off your head," Anthony Goldstein said from the doorway of Violet's dorm, staring at her with a bemused look. She paused, bottle of baby powder held, top down, over Becca's box of tissues.

"You are a mastermind of revenge," Anthony continued. "Making the girl sneeze… how evil of you." Violet rolled her eyes, shaking the container so that more white powder fell out and into the tissue box.

"That's not my revenge, you idiot," she said boredly, tapping the bottle until there was nothing left to come out. "She has such a problem with my little habits? Well, let's see how she likes a little white powder on her nose." Anthony eyes widened with realization, and he shook his head in amusement.

"So what? You're gonna make her look like the junkie?"

Violet frowned. "I'm not a junkie. I only… well, I don't do it that much. I'm not addicted or anything." Anthony raised an eyebrow but thought it best not to say anything to his favourite customer.

"This is just the beginning, Ant," Violet continued in an effective change of the subject. "Today, baby powder. Tomorrow, rat poison."

* * *

"We are _not_ roommates anymore, Lavender Brown!" Aly slammed the door to their dorm open, surprising Lavender so much that she fell off the bed, where she had been engrossed in painting her toe nails a sparkling red. She snorted once she gathered her senses.

"You can't just disown me from being your roommate," Lavender said with a scoff. "I mean, changes had to be made within the first two days, so I guess you're stuck with me now." Aly's hands curled into fists by her sides and her cheeks reddened in an angry manner. Looking at Aly with a raised eyebrow, Lavender sat on her bed again, returning to painting her nails.

"How could you, you bitch? How could you tell? Do you know how much trouble Lee and I will be in if the Headmaster finds out? And you call yourself my friend," Aly growled through gritted teeth, her fingers stretching before folding into fists once again.

"We were never friends, Aly," Lavender said in a voice full of sarcastic sympathy. "You just assumed we were. I'm sorry that you're just figuring that out now."

It only took Aly a second to cover the space from the door to the bed, her hands already reaching out to grab Lavender's highlighted blonde hair in a death grip. Lavender shrieked, reaching out to claw at Aly's face with her still-blue nails. Letting out a war-cry, Aly used all of her force to throw Lavender from the bed, ignoring the scratch marks now going across her cheek.

"What the hell's going on in here?," a new, unfamiliar boy's voice spoke from the doorway. Aly felt wide hands grasp her hips and forcefully pull her away from Lavender. She struggled to break free, flailing her arms and legs as she was lifted through the air and held against what was obviously a boy's body. Lavender, with tear-filled eyes, stood up from the bed, running out of the dorm, covering her bloody lip.

"What the hell was that?," the curly-haired boy repeated. "Was she your roommate, or just some girl that you dragged in here to attack?" Retracting his arms, the boy let go of Aly, gazing at her with mixed wonder and fear. Aly turned to face him, chest heaving as she panted from the exertion. She tugged at her loose black v-neck, which had become twisted in the scuffle.

"That slimy monster was my roommate," Aly spat out, still angry, crossing her arms over her chest. She gave the boy a good once-over and paused. "Hey, you're cute."

"That compliment would be much more meaningful if I wasn't afraid of you right now," the boy said with an uneasy smile.

"Are you new? I've never seen you around before," Aly continued, not disgruntled in the least by his comment. Let him be afraid.

"Yeah, I just transferred this year. I'm Andy," the boy said, holding out his hand. Aly only looked stared at it.

"I'm Aly. Now why the hell did you stop me?"

* * *

Kat stretched her arms over the end of the couch, her copy of _Animal Farm_ falling to the floor. She sighed, making no move to pick it up. For the past two hours, she'd been hiding out from her roommates in the commons. She just couldn't get over the feeling that Pansy and Daphne were planning something big, and she was the victim of it.

Two tanned hands came over the end of the couch, clasping over her eyes. Kat snorted.

"Nice try, Blaise," she said with a sigh. "Remove your hands from my person before your girlfriend comes down and decides to disembowel me." Blaise, unlike Draco, had been much nicer to her since the underwear incident, and she felt like she could almost call him a friend.

"You're that scared of her? Come on, Kat, she's like two feet tall," Blaise teased, coming around the couch to sit on Kat's stomach. She exhaled a gush of air, groaning.

"Ugh, well you've just done her job for her- I think at least two of my ribs are now broken," Kat managed to say, even though it felt like her lungs were being crushed. Blaise moved off of her, chuckling.

"You remind me of my older sister, Antonella. She used to go here, but she finished two years ago." Kat raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Our first game is tomorrow, you know. It's against our rival. You should come."

The blonde that she was currently trying to forget walked into the room at that moment, sitting down in one of the empty, worn-leather armchairs. "You should," Draco said, quieter than Blaise.

Kat glanced over at him, and then back at Blaise. "I don't know. I don't really like soccer," she said rather rudely, contorting around to pick her book up from the floor. She cracked it open to a random page and pretended to be reading.

"Oh, come on, Kat," Blaise said with a snort. "You love football. You can't lie about that; I saw your Madrid jersey lying on the floor of your dorm when I was with Daphne." Kat's cheeks flushed pink and she could feel Draco's eyes practically burning holes into her skin.

"I'll think about it, Blaise," she said with finality that he didn't challenge. Happy enough with the response, Blaise stood up and headed off, but not before ruffling her hair to a suitable mess. Kat made sure her eyes moved back and forth, like they would if she were really reading, as she avoided looking at Draco or giving him any kind of notice at all.

"Here." Kat looked over and was met with the sight of a pack of menthols, wrapped with a crude string bow. "A 'sorry' present. It was hell to find a pack. No one smokes menthols." Kat looked up at Draco, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking. He held the cigarettes out to her, saying nothing more, his eyes successfully blocking out any emotion. She didn't take them, just continued staring. He finally rolled his eyes, offering her a small smile before tossing the cigarettes onto her stomach.

"And I meant what I said. You should come to our game tomorrow. I need a good luck charm." Kat picked up the cigarettes, her cheeks turning pinker as she avoided making eye contact with Draco. When she finally looked up, he was already gone.

* * *

"Whoa! Okay, hold on! A person deserves some warning before being shoved into a broom closet!," Sara exclaimed as the door slammed closed and she was met with complete darkness. She didn't have time to see who her captor was, but she silently prayed that it wasn't Ginny, because this enclosed space was just a little too small for another brawl.

"Oh, come on, I thought you'd like our new hide out," Harry said, reaching through the dark to pull on the string attached to the light bulb. The bulb flickered on, casting a dim light around the small closet. "I even cleaned it up a bit for you. See that bucket? Used to be in the middle. Moved it to the corner so we'd have room to stand." Sara stared at Harry as if he'd grown two heads. Was he high again?

"Not that I mind terribly, but why would you drag me into a broom closet?," Sara asked, shoving aside an empty crate with the toe of her sneaker.

"To show you a card trick," Harry said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Actually, for this."

Sara didn't even have time to prepare herself for what was to come, as Harry's mouth descended on hers unexpectedly. Her eyes popped open and she had to fight the urge to pinch herself to see if she wasn't dreaming. His teasing words about having a make-out buddy were turning out to be not so teasing after all. It was only when Harry slid his tongue into her mouth that she ceased thinking and began kissing back, a much more enjoyable activity.


	9. Kissing, Kissing and More Kissing

**A/N: **Sorry this has taken so long, but it's the longest yet! I never realized how difficult it is to write a story with like… ten different stories in it! Wooo. Hope you enjoy everyone!

* * *

Helena sighed, crossing her arms over her stomach as she pressed farther back into her pillows, avoiding Maddiy's questioning gaze.

"I thought I'd be okay with it," she finally said after a long period of silence. Maddiy averted her gaze to the tiled floor of their dorm, her cheeks reddening slightly. "I don't know what else to say, Mads."

"It just – you can't just – I'm not okay with this, Hel!" Maddiy stared at the toes of her boots, the same ones she had worn on their first night with Theo. Nothing serious had happened that night, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't the catalyst that changed everything, that caused her current situation. After Theo had invited them in, he'd packed a bowl, and it had been her first time smoking weed. Helly inhaled and exhaled the smoke like a pro, and Maddiy had eagerly followed, not wanting to disappoint. When Helly kissed Theo, Maddiy had only watched, wide-eyed, as tongues slid against each other visibly between the two mouths. It was only when she felt fingers wrap in her hair, pulling her towards the melding mouths, that she followed Helly, her tongue colliding, inexperienced, with her best friend's and Theo's.

Helena sighed, pushing at her bed covers with her bare feet. "You didn't even like him, Mads. You only went along with it because I asked you to," Helena tried to reason, but her words came out bitter and desperate.

"How would you know?," Maddiy scoffed. "It's not like you ever asked." Helena's blue eyes opened wider, but she said nothing as Maddiy continued. "It doesn't matter anyway. I do now."

"I don't feel like sharing anymore, Maddiy." Helena's voice was small and she pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and hugging them to herself. Maddiy glared at the girl she thought was her best friend, though she was now having second thoughts.

"Too bad, Hel. You already have, and I don't plan on just giving him up now," Maddiy said, her voice the same low octave. "I don't care if you don't want to share. I'll go at it alone."

* * *

Emilie let out a high-pitched squeal, hopping off of her bed and wrapping her arms tightly around Claire's neck. She continued to squeal happily, this time bouncing on her toes. Her thin fingers grasping at Emilie's wrist, Claire gagged theatrically.

"Too tight, Em," she croaked and Emilie only giggled, giving Claire one more squeeze before releasing her from her death grip.

"Guess who just texted me, Claire?," Emilie asked breathlessly, and not bothering to wait for an answer, shouted, "Blaise!"

Claire mustered up a weak smile. "Hooray," she said in what she hoped was a playful voice, twirling her pointer finger around in a circle in the air. Emilie rolled her eyes, but didn't stop grinning.

"It says: '_Hey, been up to much?'_. Oh my God, Claire. What should I say back?" Panicking, Emilie went back to her bed, flopping down on it hopelessly. "What do you think he means? Like, does he mean what have I been doing literally, or have I been going out and talking to other guys? Claire. Why are boys so confusing?"

Fingers frozen over her laptop keyboard, Claire only smirked. She was glad she never had this much trouble replying to Blaise's texts, or even talking to him. Granted, neither of those things happened very often at all, but at least it was easier for her.

"I think, Em, he probably wants to know what you've been doing lately. You know, schoolwork, art class, that kinda thing. That's just a guess though." Emilie sighed tiredly, flipping her touch-screen phone open again.

"Claire, I love you to bits, but you're not exactly that experienced with guys. So I'll just tell him that I've been hanging out with Justin a lot lately."

* * *

"Back again, Weasley?," Abby teased, coming up behind Fred and looping her arm through his. "Wow, this is twice in one week. You're up to something, aren't you?" Fred grinned and Abby felt a small, unwanted yet not unfamiliar flutter in her stomach.

"Nah, just didn't get what I needed taken care of, taken care of last time," he said with a sigh, his smile fading. He yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth in the comfortable company. "I heard some very interesting things from Ron, however. On live radio? Even I couldn't have managed that one."

Frowning at the memory, Abby let her arm slide from Fred's. She'd been doing so well at forgetting; she couldn't be too angry at him for bringing it up, however, as he didn't know any better.

"Yeah," she said after a moment's silence. "It, uhm, well, it really sucks." She scratched the back of her neck, looking away from him. Fred nodded and chuckled sadly.

"I can only imagine," he said, flattening his hair with one hand. "I mean, I didn't think Lee was the type, you know? We've been mates since forever, practically, and I never would've thought… well, I guess this just goes to show that you never really know anyone."

"How true." Abby sighed, finding that she was becoming more and more eager to get away from Fred as the seconds wore on. Because of both the feelings in her stomach, and the feelings in her heart.

"Well, I wouldn't be a gentleman if I didn't offer my services in executing revenge against the girl and Lee," Fred said with a hesitant smile, hoping he hadn't dug himself into too deep a hole.

Abby smiled, one of the few times she had in the last few days. "What did you have in mind, Mr. Weasley?"

* * *

"You have white stuff all over your nose," Andy said bluntly as he stared at Becca's outstretched hand, not shaking it like intended.

"I- what?" Becca clapped both of her hands over her nose, hoping she'd covered up whatever it was that the boy was talking about. "Is it gone?," she asked in a muffled, contorted voice.

Andy snorted. "No, it's not gone. You just covered it up with your hands. That doesn't make it go away." Flushing bright red, Becca turned around to face away from Andy, wiping her nose on her shirt sleeve hurriedly.

"Now?," she asked, turning around, one hand held by her face for a quicker shield. Andy shook his head and Becca moaned miserably, covering her nose again. "I don't even know what it is…" She'd only just met Andy and already she was embarrassing herself horribly.

"Well if we're going entirely on looks, it _looks_ like you snorted some powdered doughnuts. Or cocaine." He shrugged. "I'd tell people it was doughnuts, if I were you." Becca's eyes went from innocently embarrassed to murderous in 2.8 seconds.

"My roommate…," she growled, wiping her nose once more.

"Geeze, what is it with everyone and their roommates?," Andy mused to himself, looking at Becca warily. "It must just be the girls. Dean's a really cool guy, actually-"

"You don't understand," Becca butt in. "My roommate is the junkie from hell. She's been trying to ruin my life ever since I kicked her naked dealer out of our dorm." Andy blinked, his brows furrowing into confusion before smoothing out to normal.

"I should've just stayed at Salem," he murmured to himself, walking away.

* * *

"Fred! I've heard you've been here twice and haven't come to see me," Audrey spoke into her phone on her way back to the dorms. She crossed the green slowly, her turquoise moccasins flattening the dewy grass. "What's up?"

She heard a sigh on the other end of the line and knew that this wasn't their usual phone call. "Fred? Is everything okay? I don't think – I haven't done something to upset you, have I?"

"No, no," Fred said hurriedly and Audrey frowned at the constrained tone in his voice. "I… I, uhm, I couldn't do this in person."

"Do what?" Audrey felt her heart plummet to somewhere near her feet, her palms sweating. She swallowed hard. She blinked. He didn't even sound like himself. "What, Fred?"

"Audrey, I think we should… take a break. It's really hard to say it, but I think it's what would be best for us. We're just – We're just at different stages in life right now. You're still in school, and you're still out another year. I'm running a business and taking University classes. We're just too different for things to work right now." He took a breath. "I never thought five years would be such a gap, but I guess I was wrong."

Audrey felt like someone had taken her heart, squeezing it hard in their fingers until it constricted painfully, cutting off blood circulation to her head. She felt dizzy and breathless and thought maybe she was just having a really awful dream. Pinching her arm, tears stung her eyes when she realized that she was awake, and had been the entire time.

"You don't- you can't really mean that, Fred," Audrey spoke quietly into the receiver of her cell phone, standing completely still in the middle of the green. "It's been seven months. We can… we can make it work, we've been doing alright so far."

"Audrey, I wouldn't be saying this if I thought there was still something there for us. You're not going to magically age five years, and I'm not going to magically lose five. It's not something we can control, it's just how things are."

Her phone slipped from her fingers, landing with a dull thud on the wet grass. She heard Fred's faraway voice calling her name, asking her if she was still there. Ignoring it, she looked up at the blackening sky and cried.

* * *

Railey slid another quarter into the slot on the washing machine, hoisting herself on top of it when it began, clunking loudly as it washed her clothes. She closed her eyes momentarily, though she wished she hadn't when she opened them and found Theo, loading his dirty clothes into the washer next to hers. Theo met her gaze awkwardly, undecided on whether to ignore her or speak.

"Your favourites," he said lightly, holding up a pair of boxers printed with miniature Cat-In-The-Hats. Railey nodded, saying nothing in return. He should've just ignored her.

"How's the threesome?," she asked snidely, feigning interest.

"There isn't one," Theo said calmly, keeping the growl out of his voice.

"Uh-oh, did somebody get a wittle jealous?," she asked sarcastically. Theo slammed the lid of the washer closed and Railey jumped visibly.

"The only jealous person I know is you, Rai," Theo said, picking up his laundry and holding it under his arm. "And it's really getting old."

Grabbing him by the collar of his white tee shirt, Railey forced Theo close to her, eye-level for once. "You're wrong," she spat out quietly. "I'll never be jealous of your little whores, Theo. You know why? Because I'm the best you've ever fucking had." He could feel her short pants of breath brushing across his lips. It was only seconds before he closed the distance, kissing her so intensely that she moved back against the wall, her fingers bunched in his shirt, forcing him closer.

* * *

Kat couldn't help but smile slightly as she found herself, once again, one step above Draco in the stairwell leading up to their dorms. He returned her smile, although his was a broad, victorious grin.

"We won." His grin widened and Kat noticed he was still in his uniform, covered in mud and grass stains but seemingly oblivious to this fact.

"I know, I was there," she replied, rolling her eyes. "And before you go on to brag about it, I saw the goal you scored." Draco smirked proudly and Kat noticed the smudge of dried mud on his jaw. "You're disgusting. You've got mud right-." He caught her wrist in his long fingers, the tips of hers barely brushing against his cheek. She stared at him and he stared at her for what could've been ten seconds or a million years. Kat wasn't sure; she wasn't counting.

His cool, grey eyes glanced down at her full lips and her eyes widened in anticipation of what undoubtedly was coming. When he did kiss her, it was with so much pent-up force that their teeth knocked together and she thought she might trip up the stairs. She held onto him to keep from falling, from either the force or lack of oxygen to her brain. Not that she was complaining about either. The kiss lasted for what could've been ten seconds or a million years.

Kat wasn't sure; she wasn't counting.

* * *

"Nice single," a strange boy sneered at Aly as she walked down the hall. She frowned, sticking her tongue out of him and continuing towards her dorm. What the hell was that supposed to mean.

"Have you heard? You've made the Billboard Hot 100," a girl she'd only seen, maybe, once before said as she opened the door to the Gryffindor House.

"It could use some better cover art," another girl added as Aly walked through the Commons. The girl held up a CD and Aly rubbed her eyes, not sure what she was seeing. Was that… was that her?

Obviously not, as the body was that of a porn star, unnaturally busty and round. But the face on the body was hers, grinning in what looked like last year's school photo. Why was she on the cover of a CD case, photo-manipulated onto the body of a twenty-four year old video girl?

"Parvati," Aly hissed, and the pretty Indian girl looked up from where she was studying a copy of _i-D_ in an armchair. "Can you explain this?" Aly reached out and tore the CD from the younger girl's grasp. Gasping in surprise, the underclassmen stood up and scurried out of the room.

"You mean you haven't heard?," Parvati asked distractedly, flipping the page. "It's your debut album."

"Uh, I've never recorded anything, Parvati." Aly looked at the brown-eyed girl as if she were crazy, or just really stupid.

"Yes, you have, silly," Parvati said, her kind tone a façade. "One evening, on the radio, with a D.A. who shall remain nameless? Everything that goes through the school's station is recorded."

Aly thought she might throw up. "You mean-?"

"Yep," Parvati said with a smile, standing up and closing her magazine. "You and Lee, set to different background music. There's even one for the holidays. It's 'Jingle Bells'."

* * *

"You've got some nerve!" Sara winced as she felt a handful of short, brown hair being pulled away from her scalp. "I mean, attacking my boyfriend once is nerve enough, but locking him up in a broom closet? Do you have a death wish?"

Every eye in the cafeteria was on Ginny and Sara, watching, waiting. Or in Blaise's case, cat-calling to instigate the girls into physical contact. Just as Sara made a motion to stand, she felt a large hand on her shoulder, forcing her back down into her seat. Ginny's hand was then extracted from her hair, and when she turned around she saw Professor Snape pinning Ginny's arms behind her back.

"Enough of this, Miss Weasley. I believe your anger-management problem calls for a visit to the Headmaster's office, don't you think? For a scholarship student, you really are rather rowdy." Sara watched as Ginny was led from the dining hall, red-faced and seething.

Sara felt warm breath against the lobe of her ear and she froze.

"Victory celebration, my dorm, tonight."

* * *

"Oh… oh God," Claire panted, pushing her straight, dirty blonde hair away from her face and neck, where it was sticking with sweat. Blaise moved off of her, rolling onto his back. He groaned, exhaling harshly.

"Feel any better, _tesora_?," he asked smugly, looking over at Claire with a smirk. Her eyes were closed and her modest chest was heaving. She nodded in response, her throat too dry for words. "I told you, you don't need to worry about her," Blaise continued, rolling onto his side, his fingers drawing patterns on her bare stomach. "Texting doesn't mean anything. We're just friends, okay?" Claire nodded again, opening her eyes to look at him, studying his handsome face slowly.

Sex with Blaise: one more thing to add to the list of what she had over Emilie.


	10. Missing Socks and Lots of Sex

**A/N: **I'm sorrier than you'll ever know. I'll update more frequently, promise.

* * *

"I feel hot and sticky and disgusting," Kat said with a slow chuckle, passing the neatly rolled spliff back to Blaise. She coughed into her balled fist, her eyes closing another millimeter. "Who did you get this from? It's class stuff."

Blaise only smiled, exhaling the smoke in a slow, thick cloud, inhaling it in again through his nostrils. "You know Ant? That Ravenclaw? Always has the best kush." He cursed, lying back against his sheets, not even flinching when Kat fell down next to him, their arms brushing from the proximity. "What was it you wanted to talk about again?," he slurred through his purple haze.

Kat's eyes were hardly open and she felt sleepy and thick. Her head was pounding in an achingly good way. Grasping the edge of her loose white tee shirt, she pushed it up over the skin of her stomach, anxiously trying to move it as far away from her body as she could. Blaise glanced over at her, his foggy blue eyes widening slightly, his lips curling into a smirk.

"Fuck," he breathed with a cloud of smoke as the material of her shirt was pushed up to reveal the lacy, pinkness of her demi-cup bra.

"I don't remember anything, Blaise," Kat muttered, her fingers dragging over her pale skin. "I don't remember anything." She closed her eyes completely. "I feel heavy," she moaned lightly. "Feel me. Feel how heavy I am."

Blaise leaned up and over her, his arms holding him aloft above her still, relaxed body. "I want to feel you." The words that escaped his lips were barely a whisper, and her own lips parted to form a response that never came. She just couldn't remember. Kat knew she'd come to Blaise desperate to talk. To talk. To talk about what?

Wide, cool hands smoothing over the goose-pimpled flesh of her sides distracted her further and it felt so nice, so goddamn nice. Draco was touching her and he was the loveliest being ever. He was angelic, too beautiful for a boy, so pretty it hurt. She'd kissed him, that's right. Was that what she'd meant to talk to Blaise about? It sounded reasonable. _Blaise._

They were Blaise's hands, not Draco's, and her doe eyes blinked open with the realization as his hands gently lifted her an inch from the bed, expertly undoing the clasp of her bra. Why wasn't she stopping him? Her judgment was sorely impaired. Blaise smelled so nice, like clean linens and grade-A cannabis. Why should she stop him?

His warm mouth descended upon her skin, trailing wet kisses down the smooth column of her neck, dusting over her collarbones, in a straight line between her breasts to her bellybutton. It was the most glorious feeling.

"Unh," Kat whimpered, arching under him, her hips cradling his. She wanted, no, _needed_ to feel his skin on hers more than anything ever before. His lips closed around a pale rose-coloured nipple, suckling gently in a way that made her skin crawl with pleasure. His hands fumbled sluggishly with the button of her Cheap Monday jeans and he pulled away with a chuckle, refocusing. Smiling up at him, she raised her hands above her head, relishing in his sigh as he eagerly drank in the sight of her, proffered to him as she was. Her tight-fitting jeans were tugged slowly down her legs, his tongue darting along the inside of her right thigh. She exhaled harshly, her head swimming. She was intoxicated, completely drunk with the feeling of his hands, his mouth, his tongue on her.

"I need," she murmured, "I need, I need.. I need…"

Beside her discarded jeans landed her underwear. The coolness she felt instantly was soon replaced with the wet heat of Blaise's tongue as he licked her with slow, cat-like licks. Crying out, her fingers tangled in his sheets, in his hair, the collar of his, unfortunately, still-worn shirt.

She'd been stupid to deny this attraction. Completely stupid, and naïve. And now she couldn't stop, nor did she want to. But at the back of her mind, in a cloudy recess, was a blonde, an angel, a boy. She just couldn't stop.

* * *

Railey watched her fingers, the tips pressing down on Theo's smooth, warm skin, creating small indents. His back rose and fell with every breath, his eyes never opening from his slumber. She wanted to snatch her hand away, to get up from the bed, redress and run, but she couldn't bring herself to leave his side. Pulling the sheets tighter around herself, Railey exhaled harshly. Her fingers remained on him, stroking along his spine.

Why was she here, in his dorm, in his bed? Was she really that poor at controlling her primal urges? Goddamn it, she wasn't mature enough to deal with this. _They_ weren't mature enough to deal with this. Before, she could always pretend that the sex had an emotional attachment, that they were doing it because they were together and young and in love. But this time, it wasn't there. They weren't cuffed to each other, they were just fucking. She couldn't deal with that.

The look in his eyes had told her. Where there was once endearing, puppy-love, now there was nothing. Physically, it had felt just as good, if not better than before. But mentally? It had left Railey exhausted and wanting to cry.

Railey wanted to tell herself that what they'd just done was a long time coming, that Theo still had feelings for her, and that's why they'd joined so… so fucking passionately. She didn't, though. That was a lie. The look in his eyes had told her that, too.

* * *

Violet picked up the nearest object small enough to throw and launched it directly at Anthony's head.

"What the fuck, Vi?," Anthony spat out, narrowly dodging the Captain America action figure that had been projected across the room at him. "I haven't even done anything to you today!"

Violet growled, throwing the Newport pack in her right hand at Anthony's lap. It landed with a soft 'plop' on his crotch and he flinched, full-bodied.

"Open them," Violet growled once more, motioning to the cigarettes. "Take a fucking look inside." Anthony cautiously opened the cigarettes, knowing that what he was about to find could not be good.

Twinkies?

Mashed up Twinkies at that, shoved and stuffed and ripped until they completely filled the tiny cardboard box.

"Every single pack, Ant," Violet drawled, her voice low and menacing. "All of my Newports, gone, replaced with.. with.." Violet let out an ear-piercing shriek of animalistic anger, her fists clenched at her sides. "It was that _bitch_, I know it was! Fuck! I can't even leave my room for fifteen minutes without her destroying something of mine. First the clothes, now this. All because she got a bit of powder on her nose." Anthony watched Violet's hands carefully, hoping that she wouldn't go for his Aquaman figurine next.

"Don't you think this is a bit extreme, Violet? I mean, it's getting pretty petty and immature," Anthony attempted to reason. "Why don't you just try to make nice with the girl? You don't have to be friends with her, but at least she wouldn't be destroying your personal property on a daily basis."

"That is not an option, Anthony," Violet spoke dangerously, her fingers dragging precariously over Aquaman's hard, plastic torso. "This is one battle that I won't surrender from. I have to win."

Anthony was sure he'd never seen someone with so much bloodlust in their eyes before.

* * *

"Harry," Sara hissed out quietly, trying to wake him, but not Ron Weasley, who was snoring in his own bed only five feet away. "Harry, I can't find my other sock!"

Harry snorted sleepily, rolling over to face him. "Shh," he breathed, her whispered words seeming louder to his sleep-addled brain. He yawned, his eyes cracking open lazily. "If you can't find them, then I sure as hell won't be able to." He yawned again before rolling back over. Sara wanted to scream, lash out and possibly hit him with a very hard object, but she didn't. Mainly because there really wasn't anything hard enough in her immediate reach.

Sara growled under her breath, throwing her lone sock onto the red of his duvet. "There," she huffed, shoving her bare feet into her shoes. "You deal with it when your girlfriend finds some girls socks in your bed. Asshole."

Harry merely snored in reply and Sara couldn't believe what a mistake she'd made.

* * *

Abby smiled at her phone's caller I.D. as she walked across the green in the direction of her dorm. Fred, calling her, during school. It was a good sign, she thought, but she was hesitant to say anything to anyone lest she jinx it. Plus, he'd only recently broken up with his girlfriend, and Audrey had seemed pretty broken up about it.

"Hello," she managed to squeak into her phone, frowning at her obvious anxiety over his call.

"Well, how did it go?," Fred asked eagerly, forgoing the usual greetings.

"Well enough, I suppose," Abby said with a smile. "From what I've heard, Aly's holed herself up in her room and refuses to come out, or let Lavender back in. Apparently, Lav's been sleeping on the Commons couch for the past two days." Fred chuckled and Abby couldn't help the grin that split her face.

"Sounds like we were successful," his deep voice said cheerfully. Somehow, though, Abby couldn't feel that good about what she and Fred had done to Aly. Not that she was feeling guilt; it was likely that she never would. She just didn't see it as being that important any more. Sure, she'd been pretty upset over Lee to begin with, but there were bigger and better things. And those things happened to be devilishly funny and good-looking. Really, it was only one thing, and his name was Fred.

* * *

"I'm not opening the door," Aly said tiredly at the knock, pulling her Juicy Couture terry-cloth bathrobe tighter around her small form. "So just give up now and go away."

"Look," replied the slightly familiar voice. "I'm probably the only person at this school that won't judge you right now, so it'd do you good to let me in. Besides, I have food, and you can't survive on the junk you brought from home for much longer." Aly's stomach growled in return and she sighed, determined to punish her mutinous body.

"Alright," she finally said, dejectedly. "I'm coming to open the door, but you have to hurry in before Lavender sees that I've let you in and tries to storm the room." The disembodied voice chuckled and Aly slumped over to the door, opening it and finding herself face to face with Andy.

"It's you," she said with delightful surprise. "Thank God, I was really expecting that bitch." Offering her the plate of lukewarm food, Andy pushed past Aly into the room, sitting on Lavender's bed comfortably, making himself at home.

"So," he began amiably. "How long has it been since you've left?"

"'Fwee days," Aly mumbled around a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "But I'm going to face them soon." She swallowed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Just not today. And probably not tomorrow, either, because I've, uh, got lots of reading to do tomorrow. And tidying." Andy only rolled his eyes.

"You can't hide away forever," he said with a smile, running his fingers through his short curls. He sighed, the toes of his black converse shoes tapping against the hardwood floor.

"Watch me," Aly dared as she stared at her reflection in her full-length mirror, poking at her pale face tiredly.

"You're too beautiful to hide, is what I mean."

* * *

"Oh yes, baby. Just like that. Right there! Oh! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Fuck my pussy, fuck it. Harder. Oh fuck! You like my pussy? Fuck!"

Jane had just kissed Seamus, so why was he in his dorm, alone, watching porn? He frowned.

* * *

Becca had been talking for fifteen minutes without pause for breath, though Audrey supposed she was breathing somehow. All of it had been about her roommate, every last word, and Audrey wanted to either break Violet's neck, or break Becca's. Usually, Audrey didn't mind being the one to listen and give advice and offer the occasional consolation of a shoulder to cry on. But now it only made her angry, her hands clenching into small fists to keep herself from snapping.

No one had asked her if she was okay. She'd thought it was obvious that she'd been crying herself to sleep for the past three days. No one had even asked how Fred was, and that she at least expected. It was like no one noticed, or no one cared. Not even her best friend, who was now going on twenty-minutes about the junkie in the bed across from her.

* * *

Pansy stood up, closing the laptop in front of her. The damage was done. By the next morning, everyone would know Kat's dirty little secret.


	11. Best Friends Never Again

**A/N: **Okay, so this is short, but I'm starting another chapter as soon as this is uploaded, because I'm on a bit of a roll tonight. Hope you like the juiciness.

* * *

The first thing Maddiy noticed when she opened the door to her dorm was the type. A metallicy-grey line of duck-tape ran down the center of the dorm, dividing it almost equally in half. What was this? Maddiy shook her head, her brows furrowing in confusion. Did Helena do this? Was she really that upset over the whole Theo thing?

Maddiy dropped her plain black North Face book bag to the ground slowly, slumping into her desk chair. Helena was her best friend and… Helena had an enormous love bite on the side of neck. The door had swung open with an obnoxious bang against the wall mere seconds ago and Helena had strolled in silently. That's when Maddiy had seen it – a masterpiece capable of being on display at the Louvre.

Helena said nothing, breezing through the room silently, ignoring Maddiy's existence as best she could.

"Hello," Maddiy finally said, waving her hands in the air. "I'm here, Helena. And I'm going to be every day. You can stop ignoring me now, and make it easier on the both of us."

Helena only raised an eyebrow.

"Look, if this is about Theo, Hel..," Maddiy began, "He's just a boy. I don't want to let him ruin our friendship." Helena busied herself gathering her books for her next class, before finally speaking.

"He's not just a boy, Maddiy. He's my boyfriend."

* * *

"Claire!"

Claire shot up from where she'd been napping, pushing her baby pink sleep-mask over her eyes. Emilie was practically jumping up and down in the doorway, a grin plastered across her face. Her bangs were sticking up at odd angles and her uniform shirt was either buttoned wrong, inside-out or both.

"Yes, Emilie?," Claire asked tiredly. "I was –"

"I had sex with Blaise!," Emilie interrupted, doing an awkward hop in her regulation Mary-Janes. "And Jesus, he was absolutely fantastic! It was so spontaneous. We both had a block off between classes, and something just happened… this connection.. and then, well, you know how it ended."

Emilie blathered on, giving Claire details that she was already fully aware of, from her own experiences with Blaise. Claire wanted nothing more than to leap up from her bed, slap Emilie and then go find Blaise and… and… well, she would probably just end up crying and begging him for an explanation, eventually forgiving him no matter what his reasoning was.

But how could he? He knew Emilie was her best friend. He knew. Didn't that make it a little inexcusable?

* * *

Kat felt the other end of the couch sink with the familiar weight of another person, and when she looked up from her copy of _Crime and Punishment_ she almost wished she hadn't. Her breath caught in her throat and her chest tightened in an uncomfortable way that made her gulp nervously.

"My roommate?," Draco asked, bemused, looking at Kat in a way directly opposite of his tone. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen him look so hurt, so real, before. "Wait, let me rephrase that. My best friend?"

Kat gasped for air, breathing again, her mouth opening several times though no words came out. "How did you find out?," she finally managed to ask.

"He felt guilty," Draco said, looking away from Kat. He stared at the wall, grey eyes hardened into a stony glare. Salty tears stung her eyes and Kat thought she might throw up all over her Ugg moccasin slippers. "Seems like he was the only one."

Confrontation. It always made her feel ill. Her skin crawled with the intense need for nicotine, but she swallowed hard, determined not to run away.

"What does it matter to you?," Kat asked quietly, staring at the rug on the floor of the common room. "You have a girlfriend. One that would kill me, literally kill me, if she found out we – we… kissed. It's not like… it's not like there was a future for us," Kat spat out in a hurried whisper. "You've hardly spoken to me since that day. What was I supposed to do?"

Draco snorted mockingly. "Oh, so fucking my best friend was the solution? Oh, you've fixed everything, Kat. You've just fixed _everything_."

And as he stormed from the room, she dissolved into tears.

* * *

"Seamus, I swear, you're the gossip mill of the school," Sara said with a snort as she sat down next to him at the lunch table. He was beaming, typing away at the keys of his Apple laptop on various different messengers, spreading whatever new tidbit of information that he'd just discovered.

"You mean you haven't heard?," he finally replied, turning to face Sara. She helped herself to an apple and shook her head. "You know that girl, Kat? The new girl? Here, read this article."

Seamus angled his laptop towards Sara and she looked at the bright screen curiously. The headline made her eyebrows shoot up and her mouth part in surprise.

_Salem Teacher Arrested After Police Alerted of Affair with 16-Year-Old_

* * *

Aly linked her arm through Andy's, smiling brightly for what felt like the first time in days. "Well, at least they're talking about someone else now," she said jokingly, though Andy could tell how relieved she was. "And I think having sex with your teacher is a bit worse than having sex with your D.A." Andy only shook his head.

"Well, what are you going to do about Lavender? Now that you've gotten over this obstacle, do you think you can get over having her as a roommate?" Andy waited expectantly for her answer and clucked his tongue when he saw her face fall.

"Yeah, maybe after I smack that smug little smirk off her face," Aly said with a grimace. "I just… we were best friends Andy. Or something like it, at least. Girls don't handle betrayal well, you should know that."

"In case you haven't noticed, Aly, I'm not a girl," Andy said dryly.

"No, but you're gay, right?"

* * *

"Hi, Audrey," Abby said too brightly, sitting next to the darker-complected girl at the table.

"Abby." Audrey managed a nod with a weak smile. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before; her breakup with Fred was wreaking havoc on her normal routines.

"How are you? Classes going okay?" Audrey opened her mouth to reply, but Abby continued. "Would you… would you mind terribly if Fred and I went on a date the next Hogsmeade weekend? I know it might seem a bit strange, me asking you, but I know the way gossip is around here – I mean, look at what it's already done to that girl Kat – and I just didn't want you to be surprised…"

Aubrey had tuned Abby out the minute she had used the words 'Fred' and 'date' in the same sentence. This just really wasn't her week, was it? As if being broken up with wasn't torture enough, she know had to hear about the other people in Fred's life. Had Abby been there all along? Was that why Fred had broken up with her? This was torture. Cruel and unusual.

She was too young for this; she needed to find someone new. Someone like… that cute boy with the glasses, sitting next to the girl with the obnoxiously purple hair.

* * *

Ginny nudged Colin sharply with her elbow and he spat the water in his mouth all over his plate. He gave Ginny a tired look, but quickly shrunk away at the glare in her eyes. "What did I do now?"

"Who's that girl, the one staring at you?," Ginny asked, nodding in a not-so-subtle way in Audrey's direction.

"I dunno," Colin replied, muffled by a mouthful of turkey and lettuce sandwich. "I think her name's Aubrey or Audrey or something. She's in my maths course. I haven't really talked to her before."

"Oh, haven't you? Look at the way she's looking at you." Ginny huffed in disgust. "I wouldn't be surprised if you've been handing out naked pictures of her as well."

Colin looked at Ginny as if she'd lost her mind before shaking his head, gathering his bag and standing up to leave.

* * *

"Hi," Claire said softly from the open doorway of Blaise's dorm room. He looked up from his desk, where he'd been diligently writing a paper. Blaise smirked with realization, stretching his arms above his head, his Hogwarts soccer tee shirt revealing a sliver of tanned skin at his waist.

"Hi, darling. You haven't been around much, lately? Found someone better?," he asked teasingly, pushing his chair away from his desk. Claire tugged nervously at the string of pearls around her neck.

"No, but I suppose you have," she said in a barely audible tone. Blaise looked confused. His features quickly changed, though, and Claire could tell she'd caught him.

"How… how did you found out about Kat?"

"Kat?," Claire sputtered, her cheeks tinged pink as she felt an unfamiliar amount of anger surge through her. "Kat _and_ Emilie? Who else, Blaise? Do you have them all written down? Or should I go check for little notches on your bed post?"

Blaise ran a hand nervously through his hair. "Wow, Claire. I thought, well, I thought you understood. I do have a girlfriend, you know. Daphne Greengrass. We've been together a year now."

He scratched the back of his neck, ashamed. "I thought you just wanted sex, too."

* * *

When Maddiy returned to her dorm later in the evening, it was with a love bite that matched Helena's. Theo had a certain technique, that much was certain.

When she left the next morning, she also had a black eye.

* * *

Shoulders shaking with silent sobs, Kat curled into the fetal position on her bed, tears rolling steadily down her cheeks. How could Pansy be so cruel? Something that was meant to be kept a secret, now out in the open… it killed her. Now everyone knew, and Kat could only assume that she had a lot of explaining to do.


	12. Breaking Up and Breaking Faces

**A/N:** Taking your advice, I'm doing a character at a time or so. Kat first, of course. Hope you enjoy, I'll update asap.

* * *

Kat took a breath, and then a step. Reminding herself to continue to put one foot in front of the other, she strode into the Great Hall valiantly, fighting back every urge to turn on her heel and sprint. Not that she really could anyway; the four inch snakeskin Louboutin's she was wearing weren't exactly designed for the track. She'd known that people would stare, but she wasn't prepared for the deafening silence, every pair of eyes locked on her as they quietly wondered who'd be the first to break – them, or her.

Sitting down in her usual spot, she was hyper aware of Pansy's eyes burning a hole through her forehead, her perfectly stained red lips curved into a triumphant smirk. Daphne cleared her throat from somewhere to Kat's right, covering her high-pitched giggle with faked phlegm. Kat never thought she'd find herself wishing for the days when the girls had greeted her with forced politeness before ignoring her for the rest of breakfast. Needless to say, she was. In fact, she'd forgone wishing and jumped straight into prayer.

"You know," Pansy's voice broke through Kat's prayer loudly, "I heard yesterday that someone in this school has a particular interest in Professor Flitwick. Which amazes me, as he's nearly a billion years old and only three feet tall. Some girls just have a penchant for older men, I suppose." Cackling loudly, Daphne jumped in, "Yeah. I've heard of cougars. What would you call a young girl that only goes after old men?"

Kat could feel her fingers curling into fists in her lap, her Chanel Black Satin lacquered nails digging almost painfully into her sweaty palms. Her face was flushed pink, and her head throbbed with the intense need for nicotine. Glancing up, she saw Blaise across from her, eyes flickering between the girls as he swallowed hard with anticipation.

"Pansy," Kat finally ground out, once she had reassured herself that she would stay in her seat and not rip the hair straight from the thinner girl's scalp. "If you are curious about my life, past or present, I would hope that you could come to me, as your roommate, and ask. What you did was low, something I wouldn't expect from you – I thought you'd been raised better." A collective gasp sounded at the table.

"As for the rest of you," Kat began, glaring at every person within eyesight, "you have no idea what went on. What little details you gathered from the article that was so nicely spammed around the school in no way fully encompass what happened. I don't expect any of you to understand, now or ever. However, if you have any questions, you may come to me and I'll answer them truthfully. There's no point in hiding it anymore, I suppose." With that, she rose from the table, her plate of breakfast foods untouched. As she left the hall, Gregory Goyle reached across the table, taking her plate and setting it over his now empty one.

* * *

"That was… brave of you," Blaise said breathlessly when he had finally caught up to Kat. "I mean, as much as you know, you could've destroyed both the girls, had you wanted." Kat spun around, her eyes just as heated as they had been in the Great Hall as the locked on his.

"Don't you dare talk to me like everything between us is fine," she spat out, her eyes narrowing. "You told Draco! Without speaking to me about first! To say the least, you're not at the top of my list either right now." Kat turned around, continuing her self-righteous march back to her dorm. A large hand clamped around her bicep stopped her short, forcefully. She found herself pulled back against a broad, familiar chest and she cringed with distaste.

"Get your fucking hands off of me," Kat growled, unable to turn around a face Blaise, smack him like she really wanted.

"Does treating me like shit make you feel any better about yourself?," Blaise rumbled lowly and Kat froze at the raw fury she heard in his voice. "I had every right to tell my best friend about how you used me for a quick fuck," he said lowly, spinning Kat to face him, his fingers digging into her arms enough to make her shrink back with the sudden realization of exactly how much stronger he was.

"Used you?," Kat said though she trembled. "You have a girlfriend! And about three other girls, that I know of, that you're with on the side! If anything, we used each other." She looked at the stone floor, avoiding his eyes at all costs. "I thought we both understood that what happened between us was to be forgotten. Ignored. Never brought up again." His fingers loosened as her eyes closed and she heard the breath escape from him as if he'd just been punched in the stomach.

Sardonic laughing caused her eyes to pop open, and she felt her anger spike again.

"We both know that what happened was not just some momentary lapse of judgment," Blaise said dangerously, grabbing her chin, forcing her to look into his cerulean eyes, forcing her to own up to something she hadn't even admitted to herself yet. "Tell me that you didn't want it. That you hadn't thought of it before that day. Tell me right now that you don't think about it now, that you wouldn't do it again given the chance. Tell me. I can't promise I'll believe you, but I'll leave you alone."

Kat said nothing as the tears stung her eyes, blurring her vision, mutating the boy in front of her.

"Exactly," spat Blaise, releasing her chin, his hands dropping to his sides. He stepped past her then, continuing on until she could no longer hear his footsteps echoing through the empty hall.

* * *

"I have to admit Pansy, I didn't think you had it in you," Draco spoke quietly, his voice gruff in that familiar post-coital way. The smirk that hadn't left Pansy's face since breakfast widened and her nails scratched along his defined hipbone absentmindedly. Not that she would admit it to anyone, but if there was one thing she craved, it was Draco's praise. She wasn't immature enough to need constant compliments; she had enough confidence to make it on her own. It was nice to be told every once in a while, however, that she was beautiful, intelligent, conniving. The usual things.

"To be honest," Draco continued, sitting up in his bed, causing Pansy's head to slip from his chest, "I kind of hoped you didn't." Pansy sat up to, her bare chest exposed, frowning at his words. Draco only rolled his eyes, standing from his bed, pulling his shorts back on. "Who knew you were such a heartless bitch?" Pansy gasped at his words, her mouth opening to speak.

"No, let me continue," Draco said in a way that quieted her immediately. "I've put up with a lot of shit from you, Pansy. I've dropped a lot of friends just because they're not up to your ludicrously high standards. I've ignored things that I want to do because you'd rather go shopping, or spend the day in, or go somewhere to show off the fact that you have me. And I'm sick of it." Pansy's face hardened, but her bottom lip trembled.

"Pansy, you're so fucking insecure! The fact that you parade me around, what you did to Kat, you demanding I tell you how beautiful you are during sex… I mean, it's crazy! You're insane! You're a fucking model, for chrissake, I shouldn't have to tell you every waking moment that you're attractive." Draco shook with the onslaught of emotions. He'd promised himself to keep composure, to handle this as calmly as he could, and the tears the stung in his eyes surprised him. It had to be everything, all added together, coming together in this one explosion – it sure as hell wasn't just Pansy that had him so upset.

"I'm only a kid, Pansy. I can't… you're too much for me to deal with. Maybe I don't deserve you, maybe you don't deserve me. I'm not sure. It's just not working out. I'm not sure if it ever really has," Draco said with a heavy sigh, his shoulders falling.

"We... we just slept together," Pansy said after several long moments of uncomfortable, tense silence. Draco shrugged.

"I suppose I should apologize, but I don't really feel that it's necessary." He shrugged again. "I used you, just like you've been using me these past months. I'm not a trophy boyfriend, Pansy. Find someone far more stupid if that's what you're searching for." He slid his pants on effortlessly, picking up his belt from the floor, leaving it folded in half in his hand. Pansy's mascara made two messy trails down her face and his chest tightened looking at her. He hadn't loved her, hardly liked her sometimes, but he wasn't a jerk. He didn't being her source of hurt.

"Now, either you can leave now, or I'll leave and give you a while. But you need to be gone by the time I get back."

* * *

Kat sat alone in the library, pretending to read the textbook in front of her. She was pretty sure anyone watching closely enough would know she was faking, as her eyes had been stuck on the same word for the past thirteen minutes and had no intention of moving on to the next anytime soon. Having become frozen the moment Daphne walked into the library and sat at the table across from her, Kat was trying her hardest to not completely breakdown and leap across the library tables in a manner eerily reminiscent to her namesake and claw at the girl. She hardly even glanced up when the chair across from her was jostled into the table, in an attempt to gain her attention.

Emilie Winchester stood across from Kat, glaring heatedly at the Slytherin girl, wishing she had superpowers capable of vaporizing her. She may be a Hufflepuff, but she wasn't against a bit of violence when it came to protecting matters of the heart.

"May I help you?," Kat finally drawled boredly, sitting back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You little bitch," Emilie said with barely concealed anger.

"What have I done to you? I don't even know your name," Kat said a bit incredulously, through with being shat on for the day.

"You slept with Blaise Zabini!" And suddenly it wasn't just one pair of eyes scorching her, it was two. Not one girl ready to tear her limb from limb, but two. _Fuck. _

Kat stood, so she at least seemed level with the two girls about to kill her. "Yes, I did," she said tiredly. She glanced at Daphne, who looked practically murderous. "It takes two to do it, you know." A weak attempt at giving half the blame to Blaise; she knew the two girls would never hold it against him. "I'm not the only one at fault her," she said pointedly, looking at Emilie, and then Daphne. "I'll leave you two to sort it out."

An hour later, the news was out. Two of the most handsome boys of the Slytherin dorm were single again, and Kat Dubrovskiy was looking to transfer.


	13. Decisions and Bad Decisions

**Author's Note: **So, I got a bit of hate on my last chapter. OMG! Haha, it was only one review, so I'm not really bothered, however, I feel as though I should clarify some things for any readers that are just now jumping aboard and haven't heard of this story before/ how it's being written.

**This is an AU story. AU means 'Alternate Universe'. While some of the characters, objects, places, etc. may be the same as in the books, the events will be shaped around the alternate universe that I have created.**

My alternate universe is a teen pop-fiction-esque version of boarding school. Fashion, booze, loud music included.

That's really the only thing that I felt I need to clarify. Hope you enjoy, sorry it's taken so long, hugs and kisses to you all! Also, happy holidays!

Oh! One more thing: Kat may appear a bit more frequently than other characters. It's not that I'm selfish, I just know her best and she's easiest to write.

* * *

Andy bit his lip, studying Aly as she brought her fork to her lips once more. What amazed him, beyond the fact that she seemingly didn't have to break for air between talking and eating, was the fact that she looked so damn good doing it. The fork's prongs weighed heavily on her lips and her tongue followed it away from her mouth, licking the last of the chocolate icing from the back. Andy squeezed his eyes shut, completely confounded. How could she possibly still think that he was gay after he'd been openly admiring her mouth for the past twenty minutes? Was she really that obtuse?

"I'm just glad that my name isn't the first to come up in conversation anymore," Aly said to another Gryffindor girl, one that Andy had been forced to befriend when, by some struck of luck (if one could call it that), he had been proclaimed Aly's 'new best friend'. "I never thought I'd actually be grateful for someone else's humiliation," Aly continued, "but thank God for that girl, Kat. I don't have to become a hermit anymore." The girl next to Aly giggled, and Andy decided that any girl, excluding Aly, sounded ridiculous when they giggled.

"So are you going to the All Hallows Eve Masquerade?," Aly questioned, and Andy had to drag himself away from his thoughts to come up with an intelligible reply. When he opened his mouth to speak, she answered for him, "Well, of course you are, you'll have to be my date. My costume will more than likely be risqué and I don't trust any of the other boys in this school to be out with me when I'm wearing something like that." Andy just hummed in agreement, frowning slightly. For god's sake, did he really project himself as a homosexual male?

"I think I'm going to be Tinkerbell," Aly went on, brushing her lengthy waves over one shoulder. "How cute would we be as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell? You don't mind wearing the tights, do you? Well, of course you don't, right?"

_One, _Andy thought_, not all homosexuals are also cross-dressers and two-. _He sighed. Of course he'd be her date and of course he'd wear the tights without complaint. It wasn't like him to give in so easily to the whims of a teenage girl, but he'd do what he had to, to gain her affection. Even if it meant pretending that he'd rather kiss Draco Malfoy than kiss her. She'd find out the truth sooner or later, right?

* * *

Gini had been all out of sorts lately, and Colin had nearly had enough. He knew that she was stressed, what with her prefect duties, and her schoolwork, but that didn't give her the right to take it out on him, every time they were together. He could hardly stare off into space anymore; she'd excuse him of being in love with the stone wall he happened to be looking at.

He slumped down at his desk and took out his maths textbook, staring absently at the cover. When the girl that had been looking at him at lunch the other day, Audrey, sat next to him, he thanked God that Gini didn't have this class with him. He could hear her now: "Oh, so how long have you been cheating on me?" "What does she have that I don't?" "I swear, you're undressing her with your eyes."

Audrey looked up at the bespectacled boy and grinned. Colin visibly shrunk away, waiting for Gini to pop out from under the desk, threatening to castrate him. Her smile dimming, Audrey looked away, embarrassed, rifling through her bag for a pencil, trying to look as though she was doing something, _anything._

"Sorry for grimacing at you," Colin said, knowing that an onslaught of word vomit was coming. "It's just that, the other day, at lunch, my girlfriend saw you looking in our direction and accused me of knowing you intimately, that something was going on between us. If she were to walk in right now, I'd probably never be able to reproduce. Which would be sort of unfortunate, as I'd rather like to have kids one day. Preferably later rather than sooner, but you get the gist of it, right?" He stopped finally, only to catch his breath. He was about to continue when Aubrey chuckled.

"I can move if you'd like," she offered, smiling. She glanced around the room, finding no empty seats as their professor walked in. "Actually, I can't. If it'll make the situation any easier, I can ignore that you exist for the next fifty minutes?"

Colin snorted. "Really, it's okay. My girlfriend's the psycho, not me. Plus, she's hardly likely to come into this class anyway; she's in Advanced Chemistry right now, and it's her hardest subject. Prefect-Gini never misses Advanced Chemistry," he said in a sarcastic tone, causing Audrey to laugh. He felt guilty momentarily, for making fun of his girlfriend, but at Audrey's reaction, all feelings of guilt dissipated.

Audrey smiled and Colin decided that he'd make a thousand more jokes about Gini if he could see Audrey's smile a thousand more times. And so it came to be that by the end of class, he had a new number in his phone, and a new perspective on relationships.

* * *

Gini couldn't help the way she'd been towards Colin lately. Actually, she could, but she really didn't feel as if she needed to. Most of the time he was doing things to provoke her, being an arsehole in general, and deserved any sort of smart thing that she happened to spit out. She was just too stressed.

As always, she couldn't say no, so she was overloaded with things to do. Helping put together the Halloween dance, while performing her regular prefect duties, all while completing her intense amount of coursework was getting to be a bit too much. It was showing, both mentally and physically. She stared at herself in the mirror relentlessly, wondering where the extra five pounds around her middle had come from. She'd have to do something about that, but when did she have time to schedule in a run?

* * *

Abby was more than a little shocked. Had she really wanted Fred Weasley for that long? _Apparently so_, she thought to herself, panting for breath. They hadn't even been on their first, official date yet and here they were, already – you know – well, not doing _it_, but the aftereffects of what they _had_ done were just as mind blowing.

Fred grinned, sitting up and tugging his lightweight white tee shirt back over his head. "Well then, Abigail," He drawled teasingly, reaching over to smooth a loose strand of hair away from her forehead. "Who would've known?"

Abby couldn't even respond, as she didn't even know what had come over her. One minute he was visiting, smiling when she told him she'd love to go to Hogsmeade with him, and the next she was tugging his clothes off as quickly as she could, demanding that he put his hands on her, _now._ What a strange turn of events.

Abby pulled the sheets up further over her exposed chest, fighting back a blush. "So I'll see you in two weeks, then?"

"What, you're not going to ask me to the All Hallows Eve Masquerade this weekend?," Fred asked teasingly. "Not even after that? I mean, it may not sound like my cup of tea, but I assure you, I'd love to be your date."

Abby felt her discomfort and confusion ease away at Fred's smile, and she returned it with one of her own. "I completely forgot about it, to be honest," she admitted. Fred snorted.

"I don't doubt that," he said with a cheeky wink. "I'm sure it was the last thing on your mind just a few moments ago.."

Abby reached out, slapping him on the arm and Fred winced dramatically. He leaned over, pecking her on the forehead before getting out of her bed and slipping his Levi's jeans back on.

"I'll see you this weekend, then," he said with a softer smile, balancing unsteadily while attempting to put his tatty green Converse sneakers on. "I'll be the one dressed as Adam, of biblical fame."

"Does that mean I have to be Eve?," Abby asked with a slight grimace.

"Yes, yes it does," Fred said with a chuckle. "Minimal coverage, my love." He winked again before leaving and Abby sighed contentedly.

She really hoped Audrey wasn't having too difficult of a time with the break up.

* * *

_+0134585555 Audrey : _Do you have any clue what we're supposed to do for our maths hw?

_+0135553458 Colin: _No clue rlly. Wouldn't know because I was talking to u the entire class. (:

_+0134585555 Audrey: _Oh whatever. You've just been craving female attention ever since your gf decided to take over the devil's job.

_+0135553458 Colin: _Harsh. She's not that bad. Rlly.

_+0134585555 Audrey: _Yeah, and I really believe that after hearing horrible things about her for an entire class.

_+0135553458 Colin: _Alrite, so mayb it's true. I tend to speak w/o thinking when I'm around pretty girls.

_+0134585555 Audrey:_ Aww, thanks. (: You're sweet.

_+0135553458 Colin: _No, just honest.

_+0134585555 Audrey: _You know just what to say, don't you? (:

_+0135553458 Colin: _I didn't rlly have to think hard, it's been on my mind all day. Just another reason I should carry my camera w/ me more often. To take pictures of things worth remembering.

_+0134585555 Audrey: _I could always just send you one? (;

Colin's mouth dropped open when he opened up the next text from Aubrey, immediately closing it in case anyone sitting at the table behind him in the library might see. After looking over his shoulder and seeing all the Ravenclaws completely entranced in their work, he opened the text again. He glanced from the picture, down to the crotch of his pants, and to the picture again. Damn it, how was he going to get up and leave _now_?

* * *

Gini grumbled under her breath, tugging her pants up to her waist, zipping and buttoning them. Her period was three days late, she was so stressed. She was on birth control, sure, but she still had her period every three months or so. There was just too much on her mind, and it was wreaking havoc with her body. She had bags under her eyes, she was always tired, she'd gained a bit of weight, and she felt nauseous at the most annoying times. And now, on top of things, her period was late. The one thing that went pretty much like clockwork, mucked up as well. _Great._


	14. Things Can Only Go Up From Here

**A/N: **So fuckin' angsty! Ha, I didn't even intend for it to be, but this chapter turned out to be one of the angstiest ones yet. Alas, my fair readers, all will change in the next, very large installment: The Halloween Ball! Yes, yes, everyone will be in the next chapter (or two, depending on the size, and ease of reading) and it will be much lighter, sillier, and a little bit dirtier. (; Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Kat sighed. She sighed again and held her arms out straight from her sides, her fingertips brushing, just barely, the cold stone walls of the maintenance closet. One would think that paying fifty-thousand dollars a year to go to one of the top boarding schools in the world would afford a student the right to change room assignments if there was a disagreement between roommates. However, the headmaster had been quite unfeeling when he'd told Kat that she would have to work out her differences and stay right where she was.

Kicking the corner of her trunk, the same trunk she'd lugged up the stairs that fateful first day, Kat felt like crying. Crying not only because of the throbbing pain now in the toes of her right foot, but also from the complete and utter fuckery that her life had become in the past week. She had gone from having great friends, and being wanted by one of the most handsome, funny, whatever-other-gag-worthy-adjective boys in the school, to trying to find a place to store her favourite pair of Choo's amongst the mops and buckets. Slumping down onto her trunk, Kat covered her face with her palms and bit her lip, painfully holding back the tears that threatened to spill.

What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't leave; there was nowhere else for her to go. But she wasn't too keen on staying, not at a place where everyone hated her, at least. It was going to take some serious self-talk, some serious ball-growing, for her to be able to make it a day longer at Hogwarts. Maybe being stuck in the closet was just what she needed.

* * *

Theo was always the player. He was the one who played games, the one who had conveniently left out the fact that he had a girlfriend when he'd shared a bed with Railey so few nights ago. And to be honest, Railey was done with it. However, was she done with him? Definitely not.

Groaning deeply, Theo thrust gently against Railey as she ground herself into his lap in a teasing manner that rewarded him with practically no relief. He'd tried, to no avail, to get her uniform skirt off for the past half an hour, and it just wasn't happening, as was evidenced by his swollen lip from a nip that had drawn blood.

"Rai… fuck, Rai, stop teasing," he muttered and Railey lifted her head from the crook of his neck, smugly glancing at the huge love bite she was leaving.

"No, _you_ stop teasing, Theodore," Railey growled. "You want me?" She pressed against him intimately, causing him to groan once more. "Then win me over. Drop your underage girls, and win me over. Take me out, surprise me, beg me to be yours. Win me."

She stood up, snorting at the obvious bulge in Theo's trousers. "And take care of that before your roommate gets back."

* * *

Kat emerged a day later with a list, composed of three very essential things to her survival at school. Wearing a triumphant smile and her favourite pair of Alexander McQueen black cigarette-leg jeans, Kat read over her list once more:

"_1. Apologise to Draco._

_2. Discuss feelings with Blaise while bashing him over the head repeatedly with hard object._

_3. Let the fuckers at this school know that it takes a bit more to get rid of me."_

* * *

He'd been alone on the soccer pitch for going on three hours, driving the ball into the net, perfecting his penalty shots and dribbling the length of the field so many times he lost count. Draco had decided to turn his confusion and anger and plain _hurt_ into something slightly more productive than crying in the boys' shower when one thinks no one is listening. So much had changed in so little time: he wasn't with Pansy anymore, he wasn't friends with Blaise anymore, he was hardly even team captain anymore. When had his life turned to such shit? His father was the fucking Earl of Wiltshire for chrissake; he should be living a privileged life, a life in which he gets everything he could ever want.

Draco pivoted with the ball, turning the other direction and heading towards the other goal. He put all of his energy into this one last sprint, pushing himself, imagining a defender trailing just behind him. Glancing up to the goal, Draco stopped so abruptly that he tripped over his own feet, landing hard on the grass in front of him. On the crossbar of the goal was Kat, her legs dangling in the air below her as she balanced precariously. In her hands was a piece of poster board, one of several, he could tell, from the other corners peeking out from behind it. It read, "I'm sorry."

Draco pulled himself to his feet, and advanced slowly on her, not even bothering to brush the grass and dirt from his kit. Kat let the first poster fall, revealing the second. "I didn't mean to hurt you." Draco only scowled. Kat wobbled uneasily, but let that poster follow the other to the ground. The next one read, "I'm an idiot," and Draco couldn't help but smirk affectionately. "Forgive me," the last poster read and Draco was scowling again, almost below Kat now. Words failed him, and when he finally could speak, he could only come up with, "How did you get up there?"

"Jumped," Kat joked weakly before pointing to an unfamiliar figure, retreating back to the campus. "Actually I had a little help."

The tension between the two was as thick as the silence that followed and Kat finally had to lower her gaze from Draco's unnerving stare. She felt as though he could read her thoughts or see her insides – both things she wasn't so fond of.

"So," she finally continued when she couldn't take it anymore, "Will you accept my apology?" Draco's nose scrunched pensively and Kat felt like she'd already lost.

"No," Draco said in a voice that was oddly hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried again. "It's not worth it." Kat's knuckles turned white where she gripped the metal pole and she closed her eyes in a last stitch effort to keep herself composed.

"Nothing's been right since I met you, Kat," she heard Draco continue and her jaw clenched against the instant hurt she felt. "I didn't mean to feel how I did towards you. I don't know what happened. It's not like me. Everything was great before we met. I had the girl, the best friend, the… the fucking mental stability!" She heard him sigh in frustration, but she couldn't open her eyes. Tears caught in her lashes and Kat took a steadying breath, wishing she were on the ground, wishing she didn't feel so fucking humiliated.

"You could've changed everything, Kat," Draco murmured just loud enough for her to hear. "But now I'll never know. I don't _want_ to know. I just want my life back."

Kat felt her wall break, and the tears slid easily down her cheeks. Opening her eyes, she saw him for the first time, standing there, just as hurt as she was, without the right to be.

"Help me down, will you?," she asked quietly and he stretched his arms out to her. She tumbled down easily and he gracefully caught her and placed her on the ground once more. His eyes gave away how uncomfortable he felt and Kat figured she'd save him the trouble of awkwardly excusing himself.

She turned and ran.

* * *

Blaise jumped half way out of his chair, upsetting most of the things on his desk, when the door to his dorm was slammed open, banging against the wall angrily. He'd expected to see Draco, in another fit of rage, fists already curled to fight, in the doorway. Kat was a surprise, a much unexpected surprise.

"You were right," she breathed, her cheeks red from the chill outside, her eyes red from her tears. Blaise stood up and stared at her inquisitively. She looked like hell. Although, he had to admit, he'd never seen hell look quite so enticing before.

He watched her close the door hastily, tear at her sweater hastily, throw her camisole on the ground hastily before he finally questioned her.

"What are you doing?," Blaise asked incredulously, closing the distance between them to grab her wrists and stop her fingers from unbuttoning her jeans.

"You were right, Blaise," she said more forcefully, her chocolate eyes trapping his own cerulean ones. "I wanted it. I still want it." Pulling at her wrists, she whined lightly when he wouldn't let go. "I need it." Her last words were like a small electric shock and he dropped her wrists, stepping backwards. There was no thinking, hardly any breathing, and Kat took advantage of his carelessness to wrap around him, to kiss him lightly on the lips, the jaw, the neck. What she had said hadn't been lies; she wanted this just as much as she wanted it to be with Draco, and what the hell did that mean about her. She was just a whore, a filthy whore who couldn't make up her mind and ruined lives everywhere she went.

"Kat… Kat," a voice said forcefully, bringing her back to reality. Blaise gripped her biceps, holding her away from him, though it took quite a bit of strength. "No. No, this isn't right." Her anger became tantamount to her previous sadness and she glared at the boy in front of her, the boy who looked suitably rumpled from her attack.

"Kat, whatever this is, it's not worth it." The words echoed in Kat's ears and she could swear the world was against her in that moment. She hardly noticed picking her clothes up and sliding them back on, hardly heard Blaise's soft questioning, saw the look of confusion in his eyes.

Unwanted. She'd had too much, and now she had nothing. And _fuck _her list. That was the last time she would ever write something out.

* * *

The girl standing in the doorway to Kat's closet was unfamiliar, but she stepped into the cramped quarters as if they'd been friends forever. She shoved a Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee in Kat's direction, waiting for the girl to hesitantly accept it before speaking.

"I heard that you were living in here. A bit pathetic, but understandable," Railey said, tucking a strand of straight hair behind her ear. "I'm Railey, and I'm in the year below you. We've never spoken before, but I've heard enough about you to assume that you probably need someone to talk to before you go absolutely mad and jump off the West tower. Kat frowned at the assumption, but said nothing, only sipping at her coffee.

If she was being honest, Railey was a welcome sight. The past week had been a constant cycle of sleeping and going to class and ignoring what had happened with Blaise and Draco. There was some eating thrown in there as well, but only when completely necessary to keep her from passing out. She needed something, someone, anything at all to save her from going completely mental and either offing herself or getting on the first plane back to the States.

"Look. I don't pity you," Railey continued, seeing Kat's look. "Nor do I intend to coddle you and tell you everything's going to be okay. I'm sure there are plenty of other girls here who would do that, but not me. You can respect that, I'm sure. " Kat nodded slowly, spinning her inherited Cartier ring around her finger absentmindedly.

"I do know that we've both been fucked over." Railey smiled ruefully, the first sign of any emotion since she'd entered the closet. "And what's worse than being fucked over is dealing with it all alone. I mean, you can hardly plot revenge when it's just you in this closet." Railey sat down on Kat's half-unpacked trunk and patted the empty space next to her.

"Now sit and tell me what's happened. Planning will come after."


End file.
